The member for Ottawa South.

After a two-year absence, the fall fairs—which actually happened in the summer for the most part—have returned to the Ottawa Valley. The fairs are back, and in a big way.

It all began a few weeks ago, as it always does, with the Beachburg Fair—as Dai Bassett referenced in his song, “the first big summer fair.”

That was followed by a new weekend fair in Arnprior called the Valley Agricultural Festival.

This past weekend, as I did in Beachburg and Arnprior, I opened the 163rd Cobden Fair.

And coming up the second weekend in September will be the 167th edition of what we call the greatest fair in the Ottawa Valley, the Renfrew Fair.

While every one of these fairs is unique in its own way, they all have two things in common: They bring communities together, and each one of them has agriculture at its roots. While today there is something for everyone, including midways, horse draws, live entertainment and smash-up derbies, the heart of our fairs is still the farm and the families who work so hard to put food on our tables.

When attending these fairs, I can’t help but think how much they’ve changed over the years but how much people still anticipate going to the fair with their families, rubbing shoulders with and enjoying the company of friends and neighbours in such an enjoyable environment. While always being open to the reality of changing times, by holding fast to the traditions that made them a must-see, must-attend event so many years ago—it’s what makes our county fairs so special and gives me confidence that they’ll still be around 100 years from now.

Under our watch, Mr. Speaker, we have seen the level of care increase in this province like it has never happened before. Under our watch, his own riding is getting $55 million more for care in the homes that he has. Under our watch, I have approved over 500 new long-term-care beds for people in his riding alone. Under our watch, investments in health care have grown to the highest level in Canadian history. Under our watch—a new hospital in Mississauga. Under our watch, small and medium-sized hospitals finally get budgets that are equivalent to large hospitals. Under our watch—the largest investment in health care in Ottawa’s history. Under our watch—new hospitals in Niagara. Under our watch—four hours of care for seniors. Under our watch—58,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds. Under our watch, we’ll get it done.

Madame la Présidente, les Ontariens sont frustrés. Ils sont frustrés parce que les salles d’urgence ont été fermées. Ils sont frustrés parce que de plus en plus d’entre eux n’ont pas accès à leur médecin de famille.

Ontarians are frustrated because they know nurses and front-line health care professionals are overworked, underpaid and burnt-out as a result of this government’s crushing Bill 124. They’re frustrated because when they call 911, they are less and less likely to have an ambulance available to reach them quickly.

Ils sont frustrés parce qu’ils voient toutes ces choses et qu’ils voient leur gouvernement parler et parler et parler et ne prendre aucune mesure pour y remédier.

They’re frustrated because they hear their government talk and talk and take no action to address these issues.

Now, I’d like to take a moment to address the growing challenge of level zero here in Ontario. Level zero, for those of you who don’t know, is the complete unavailability of ambulances to respond to a 911 call. In 2021, Ottawa paramedics spent more than 49,000 hours in off-load delay at area hospitals. This resulted in 750 incidents of level zero—49,000 hours of off-load delay at hospitals, Madam Speaker.

The 90th percentile off-load delay was 97 minutes, far exceeding the 30-minute benchmark. That means that paramedics are waiting over an hour and a half to transfer their patients to hospital.

Plus que 90 minutes en retard à l’hôpital, madame la Présidente.

Now, that’s two paramedics and an ambulance stuck at a hospital because the hospitals are too backlogged to take them. That’s two paramedics and an ambulance not on the road responding to emergency 911 calls to save someone’s life.

In the first seven months of this year, Ottawa paramedics have experienced 1,125 level-zero events. In some cases, Ottawa has had 11 hours of continuous level zero—11 hours without an emergency ambulance available to respond. Imagine an ambulance not being available to respond to a 911 call when your spouse is having a heart attack or a stroke. Imagine it’s your child who has just fallen off the deck and is unconscious and unresponsive. Imagine that for a moment, Madam Speaker.

One in 10 people survive cardiac arrests that happen outside of hospital. One in 10—that’s it. With cardiac arrest, the odds of survival go down by 10% for every minute until a person is resuscitated. After 10 minutes, the risk of permanent brain injury is very, very high.

When my heart stopped, I was fortunate. The fire service was already outside dealing with a minor car accident, and they just walked into the gym. The paramedics were already on their way to respond to that car accident. I’m here today because of that fast emergency response, and I’m here today because the doctors and nurses at the Montfort Hospital had the time to spend with me.

The Montfort emergency room is one of the rooms that was recently closed. For a weekend, the emergency room closed. Why were they closed? Because of the health care crisis this government has created.

Now, it’s no mystery what would have happened to me had there been no ambulance to respond. It’s no mystery what would have happened had the emergency room been overcrowded or closed. It’s no mystery what would have happened: I would have died. That’s what would have happened, and that’s what will happen in Ontario if we do not address this problem.

Level zero isn’t just a problem in Ottawa; it’s a problem right across the province. It’s in Hamilton. It’s in the valley. It’s in the GTA. In fact, Madam Speaker, when there’s a level-zero incident in Ottawa, guess who we call? We call the paramedic service in the valley to come to Ottawa, leaving your residents without ambulances too. That’s how it works. We call the ambulances in Embrun and Russell as well. That’s your government. That’s your government not providing the funding. The province and municipalities pay for paramedics to be there for us. They don’t pay for them to be conducting hallway medicine in our hospitals—hallway medicine caused by the chronic underfunding of health care by this government, hallway medicine created and amplified by Bill 124, leaving health care professionals underpaid, overworked, burnt-out, and leaving emergency rooms in Ontario in a crisis. It’s time to make the health care investments that we need for our families, and to repeal Bill 124 and pay front-line heroes what they’re worth.

I don’t come just with criticisms of this government, because I could be here the entire 20 minutes. I come with a solution. The city of Ottawa is seeking $5 million in base funding to hire 42 new paramedics. These paramedics will be strategically deployed to emergency rooms at area hospitals so that the paramedics who arrive with patients can transfer them to these paramedics, who will be permanently stationed at the hospitals. They’ve requested $5 million in base funding from this government, and I hope that this government says yes. I hope the government chooses to get this done, because it’s imperative for families in Ottawa, it’s imperative for families across Ontario that ambulances can respond to 911, that they can get people to hospitals quickly, that those hospitals are open and have the capacity to take them and save their lives.