On a daily basis, my office receives emails and phone calls from constituents about the health care system, from doctor shortages to excessive wait times in the ER, and about this government’s Bill 7, More Beds, Better Care Act, demanding public hearings take place.

Bryan sent me an email and asked me to get his story out there, because he says he’s not alone. His daughter is a registered nurse with over 30 years’ experience, and she has seen the health care system crumble. Bryan is an 82-year-old senior. His doctor has just retired. He signed up with Health Care Connect, and all he was offered were phone numbers to call doctors’ offices in hopes that they were accepting patients. He couldn’t get through to speak to doctors and fill out applications, and he has heard nothing. He is being forced to monitor his own health—blood pressure, arranging blood samples to check cholesterol, and, as a cancer survivor, his blood count. He is attending an urgent care clinic just to have his prescriptions filled. He also has a pacemaker, and—lucky for him—he’s monitoring by downloading an app. Bryan has been living in London for 51 years, and he feels like a senior who has been cast out in an open boat. This is beyond shameful.

It’s time to fix the health care system, and the NDP has put forth solutions.

Will this government finally agree to reinstate the Practice Ready Assessment Program for internationally trained doctors and nurses, and repeal Bill 124 to give health care workers the pay and incentives and respect they deserve? Yes or no?

Speaker, I rise in the chamber today to inform you of an important organization in my riding of Newmarket–Aurora that is making a positive impact on the lives of seniors. It is called the 108 Health Promotion Association. It is our local Chinese community organization. Their president, Mr. Nan Zhou, named it “108,” as he wants to help their members live to 108 years of age. Their vision is to support healthy aging and culturally appropriate community programs that encourage physical activity and mental well-being. Current programming includes yoga, health-related workshops, singing and dance clubs, as well as seasonal vegetable cultivation workshops, and a training course on preventing the elderly from falling.

At the beginning of 2021, I am proud to say that 108 was a recipient of our government’s Seniors Community Grant Program. Through this funding, they were able to help older adults and seniors in our community stay mentally and physically healthy during COVID-19. They transformed their programming to a digital format to continue social interaction within the community of 2,000-plus seniors, promoting healthy and safe engagements.

This past Saturday, I was honoured to be invited to the 108 family bonding event. There was a barbecue and a dragon dance, as well as a Chinese waist drum dance and many other forms of entertainment for the entire family.

Seniors are and will always be important members of our communities. We must take care of them and each other as we grow as a province.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

Thank you very much, Speaker. This is my first opportunity to see you in that chair, so I want to offer you my congratulations. It’s great to see you there.

I’m pleased to rise to offer a few minutes of comments on this bill, this budget that is before us today, on behalf of the people I represent in London West.

This week and last week I have been raising stories of people from my riding who are experiencing first-hand what the crumbling of our health care system means for them. Our home care system is broken.

I raised the story of Robin Floyd; her son was discharged from surgery with a drainage tube. He had to wait nine days before he had a home care appointment.

I raised the story of Kim Fowler, who is exhausted trying to care for her mother, who is at home with dementia and COPD—cannot get admitted into long-term care, PSWs regularly don’t show up. Kim is frantic with worry about what will happen if she herself gets sick and cannot get the care that she needs and her mother deserves.

Today I raised the story of Jane Berges; her husband Don was discharged from hospital and admitted to a private sector long-term-care home that did not have the capacity to care for him properly. He fell out of the bed in the long-term-care home, was readmitted to hospital and tragically died.

I hear regularly from constituents who do not have access to a family physician, whose only recourse if they or a family member are sick is to use our overcrowded and stretched-thin emergency services.

And yet this budget that is before us today does nothing to address these pressing problems in our health care system. It does nothing to repeal Bill 124 and make sure that our front-line health care workers are compensated fairly, they get the wages that they deserve and the benefits that they surely have earned. It does nothing to deal with violence in health care workplace settings. It does nothing to fast-track internationally educated health professionals at the rate that they need to be fast-tracked.

I hear the government talk about their plan to stay open, as if that plan is to ensure that the health care system is going to be there when people need it. But one of the most important things that this government could do if they want to stay open, if they want our health care system to be there for Ontarians, is to legislate paid sick days. We heard today from Dr. Moore that Ontarians are supposed to stay home until their fever clears, until their symptoms have improved—60% of Ontarians don’t have access to paid sick days. They can’t stay home if it means losing a paycheque, if it means not being able to pay the rent or put groceries on the table. And we know that for racialized workers, for Indigenous workers—they are highly more likely not to have access to paid sick days.

The other issue that is of grave concern to people in London West with this budget is the absence of any appropriate measures to lift people out of poverty. The minister talks about the LIFT tax credit, but more than 200 advocacy organizations have told this government that what we need is to double social assistance rates. Instead, we see a paltry 5% increase for ODSP and nothing for Ontario Works. That ODSP increase will mean $58 more a month, which locks people into legislated poverty.

There’s no mention of rent control for the many London West constituents who don’t know that when they move into an apartment that was built after November 2018, there’s no rent control whatsoever. They are being hit with double-digit rent increases, unable to know how they’re going to afford to continue to live there.

There’s no mention of the climate crisis and the need for strong climate action. There are many, many gaps in this budget that make it impossible for me to support it if I am doing my job on behalf of the people of London West.

Thank you, Speaker. I, too, want to congratulate you on being in that Chair. It seems like you know exactly what to say and how to identify the members. I tell you, that must really impress the Clerks’ table. That’s a talent that speaks for itself.

There’s no surprise in where I stand on the position of this proposed budget bill that this government has put forward, which I will not be supporting. There’s no surprise. What I want to do is bring a sense of what people in Algoma–Manitoulin were telling me when I was knocking on the doors, and what they’ve been saying for quite a long time. When I was knocking on doors, Speaker, it was health care. Then it was health care. Then it was health care. And then it was health care. They’re not seeing that—we’re not seeing that—in this bill.

Health care comes in a variety of ways. Where are the travel grant increases or the review that we’ve been waiting for? Where are the increased PSWs? Where are the doctor recruitment and retention programs that we need to get doctors? Primary care is absent in northern Ontario.

Also, on the doorsteps, there was nothing as far as the discussion, even when we were talking about the opposition—because there were other candidates who were going to the doors, I was hearing what they were bringing to the doors as well. There was nothing about Bill 7 when we were going to the doors, in regard to removing consent from seniors and being travelled from one long-term care home to another. There was nothing about that.

There’s a variety of things that should have been there. Health care in northern Ontario is imperative, because we have to travel long distances to get to specialists. So primary care is very important to our communities—communities like Wawa, Manitouwadge, Thessalon, Blind River, Manitoulin. Doctor recruitment is a challenge for us. It has been huge. The East Algoma Primary Care Work Team—we’ve been working with this government. I’ve walked over and provided them with a complete proposal on a path toward getting doctors in northern Ontario, or at least to the north shore in my riding of Algoma–Manitoulin, but it has been crickets. I have not heard anything from this government.

We look at this bill, and for the life of me, there are so many things that are in there, but there are so many things that are missing. Speaker, tell me how repealing the requirement that WSIB headquarters in Toronto, under schedule 6—how is that going to help an individual who is being penalized? Deeming is happening, upon them. They are losing their shirt off their back. How is that going to help? Why didn’t we put anything on eliminating the practice of deeming under WSIB within this bill? We didn’t do that. It’s not there.

Price-gouging: Gas prices have been ludicrous in northern Ontario. People have been paying high prices. This is what I was hearing quite often at the doors, where everybody was upset. Did we see anything in legislation that was contained in here? I remember, just before we went to the doors—we had a very nice exercise here this afternoon where we demonstrated a lot of the words that the Premier was using when he was first elected in 2018, on how he was going to bring in legislation and monitor certain individuals to make sure that price-gouging stopped. That didn’t happen.

Health care was also affected in another way in northern Ontario, because people are wondering, “How am I going to get to and from my appointments?” We have to use our roads, right? So the investment that this government has touted, putting $10 billion-plus into roads like the Bradford Bypass and the 413—well, heck, there’s 68 kilometres of Highway 69 that could be finished that this government didn’t put a dollar or a cent towards in this budget. We didn’t see that.

In my specific riding of Algoma–Manitoulin: 542 and 551. Those are roads on Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in this world. You would think it would be a strategy for this government to develop a tourism practice which would attract individuals to northern Ontario, whether it be cycling or just sightseeing, and provide good roads. Well, they did some resurfacing just a couple of weeks ago. Guess what I was informed of this morning? Those roads are already full of potholes—the deterioration. So the five-year cycle is already starting. I can see why the people are so frustrated on Manitoulin Island that this is wasted money, when they could have properly paved those roads, which would have lasted the test of time.

Highway 637 into Killarney: It is a disaster. For crying out loud, that’s one of the best tourism areas we have in this province.

Highway 548 on St. Joseph Island—again I’m very fortunate in my riding. I have two beautiful islands, gems on their own. But again, if we’re going to attract individuals to come to our community, let’s make sure that the infrastructure that is there is properly cared for.

There are many other things that are not in the budget. Why did they not legislate the 10 paid sick days for people across this province? Why wasn’t that done? The experts have been telling this government to do so.

Why wasn’t there anything in this budget on climate change, real action on climate change? There was nothing in this budget. We see what is happening. We see more forest fires. We see more floods. We see the impact that it’s having on our municipal infrastructure. Bigger drains, larger culverts are needed, but we didn’t see anything about that.

Donna Behnke out of Elliot Lake has been writing to me: “Mike, please get them to do something on ODSP.” I told her, “Listen, I hear there’s something coming in the budget.” A 5% increase, $58—my goodness, that is a slap in her face. Those were her exact words that she provided to me. That is an embarrassment. She says, “What am I supposed to do with that $58? Do they not know my rent went up $110? Do they not know the price of food has gone up? Do they not know how much money it costs me in order to get to the grocery store?”

There are many things that are missing out of this budget that should have been in here, and this government again has shown how disconnected they are with those who are not singing their song. If I’m not singing the song, then I’m not going to be part of the band, and a lot of people are feeling like that in Ontario.

I know I’m going to hear from this government, “The member from Algoma–Manitoulin did not support the budget,” and they’re going to quote the area that I didn’t support. You know what? That’s fine. My communities know well enough and they are informed of the game this government is playing. I look forward to the next four years because I will stand in my place each and every day and bring the voices of people across Algoma–Manitoulin to this Legislature.