I would like today to talk about Suomi Koti, a non-profit seniors’ residence that has been providing our elders in Thunder Bay–Superior North with exemplary independent living residences for over 30 years.

Suomi Koti is one of the few organizations in Thunder Bay that offers independent living for seniors at not-for-profit rates. It is affordable, beautifully maintained, close to amenities, surrounded by trees, and I would be very happy to live there myself.

Suomi Koti has plans to build an additional 60 apartments, 20 of which will be reserved for low-income seniors, but to do this, they must rely on donations and government funding to create this new and much-needed housing. There is currently a five- to seven-year wait-list to get into this and the two other non-profit homes in the city, so the need is clear.

The board of Suomi Koti has worked with the most respected designers and planners to put together their funding and building plans. Unfortunately, federal and provincial funding levels are no longer what they were when Suomi Koti was first established, and they are struggling to access funding even though this type of housing is clearly needed.

Speaker, I look forward to meeting with representatives from the provincial government to advocate for financial support for Suomi Koti so that they can continue to do what they already do so well: provide first-rate, affordable housing that seniors in Thunder Bay–Superior North need and deserve.

My question is to the Premier. This government spouts a lot of numbers about the thousands of new health care professionals they hired during their last term, but there is—

Interjections.

As I said, this government spouts a lot of numbers about the thousands of new health care professionals they hired during their last term, but there is no evidence whatsoever that any of these new professionals exist. They are nowhere to be seen in Thunder Bay–Superior North, and given the staffing crisis gripping every single health care setting in the province, they’re nowhere to be seen anywhere else.

Is your refusal to negotiate a fair wage with existing health care workers, thus sending them out of the profession in droves, part of your long-term plan to privatize health care, ultimately leading to low-waged and precarious work for all health care workers once you have destroyed the existing workforce?

The $5,000 bonus given to nurses but not other health care workers not only did not represent a permanent wage increase, it continues to cause division and resentment amongst all those health care workers who are not eligible for the bonus—an entirely predictable outcome in the government’s divide-and-conquer strategy.

I was called recently by a young nurse who was adamant he did not want their “damn $5,000.” He wanted to see across-the-board pay and benefit increases so that more health care workers would stay in the profession and they wouldn’t be working in a constant state of exhaustion.

Will this government admit it is deliberately driving existing health care workers out of the profession in order to gut the public system?