To the Premier: At the recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting, I heard the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association delegation raise concerns about the proposal to cut Ontario’s health units from 35 to 10 and paramedic services from 55 to 10. The plan is to merge the Kenora, Rainy River and Thunder Bay districts under one health unit covering at least 220,000 square kilometres, and over 500,000 square kilometres if Kiiwetinoong is included.

In the Ontario northwest, we already face enormous geographical challenges to access health care. The proposed mega health unit would serve an absurdly large geographical area with distinctly different communities and distinctly different needs that no single health or paramedic unit could possibly manage without putting people’s lives at risk.

Why is this government looking to make our health care challenges in the north greater by reducing available services?

So my question is: Will this government listen to community members, health professionals and local mayors, stop the amalgamation of health units, return the monthly mobile health units, and strengthen rather than weaken access to health care in northern Ontario?

At the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, I was very pleased to be able to announce an expansion of the paramedic programs that have been incredibly successful in some of our communities. Not all Ontario communities have access to that, and we are making sure that that continues.

Now, when a paramedic today has the only option of taking their patient to an emergency department, it is a strain on the system. When we have—with the patient’s consent—the ability to take that patient to a mental health facility, to a long-term-care facility, to a palliative home, there are opportunities that, together working with the patient, make for stronger and better outcomes. That’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’re talking about when we say the status quo is not an option in the province of Ontario.

Visitors to Ontario, to different parts and communities, don’t always know that, which is why we as a government have invested, and will continue to invest, in next-generation 911.

The people of the Niagara region deserve better when it comes to transit services in our peninsula. For years and years, the previous Liberal government would make promise after promise about the delivery of the long-awaited GO service to Niagara, but they always failed to deliver. When they were asked about the status of their commitment, we would hear Liberal members claim that it’s a “very, very big priority” or that they “could see it coming in the next year.”

But my constituents have waited long enough. Delivering GO rail service to Niagara is an essential piece of ensuring that we’re building up Ontario’s economy and strengthening Niagara’s tourism sector. Could the Minister of Transportation please update the Legislature on the important expansion of GO service to Niagara our government announced last week?

It’s vital that transit expansion becomes a reality across the GTHA, including in Niagara. Speaker, can the Minister of Transportation explain what our government is doing to expand GO services in Niagara and to get the job done for the people of Niagara West?

The Minister of Health.

My question is to the Premier. Earlier this month, Ken and Lorena Dillon from Chapleau were biking at Shoals Provincial Park when they suffered an accident. They tried to call 911 but the call wouldn’t go through because there was no cell coverage.

No one in Ontario should have to wait for hours on the side of a highway in an emergency because there is no cell service. Is the Premier going to ensure that everyone in Ontario can call 911 when they are in an emergency?

For some in northern Ontario, the situation is even worse. They have to find a 10-digit number to call during an emergency. The services are there, but 911 is not.

The patchwork system of cell coverage and emergency numbers in the north is putting lives on the line. Will the Premier commit to ensuring that 911 can be contacted in every part of the province where there is an emergency?

I want to thank the member from Niagara West for the question and for being such a dedicated and effective advocate for his constituents every day.

Speaker, delivering more rail service to Niagara is a priority for our government. Last week I was pleased to join the Premier, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport and the member from Niagara West to announce that we are reinstating GO train service to Niagara 365 days a year, with year-round weekend service from Toronto’s Union Station to Niagara Falls. With two round trips each day on weekends, our government is giving a major boost to the region and unlocking access to the world-class tourist destination that is Niagara Falls. The Niagara region is an economic driver for our province.

This increase in service will not only build our economy but will also strengthen the region’s $1.8-billion tourism industry. But the job doesn’t stop there, Speaker. We will continue to work with our rail partners at CN to deliver even more service to Niagara region.

But, Speaker, rest assured our government is filling the massive infrastructure and transit gap that was left behind by the Liberals. I’m so proud that our PC government, led by our Premier, is stepping up to the plate and getting the job done for Ontarians. GO expansion is a key part of our government’s plan to fight gridlock and to better connect residents and commuters to the reliable transit services that they need. Bringing year-round weekend GO rail service between Toronto’s Union Station and Niagara Falls is a major step forward as our government delivers on the largest transit mandate in Ontario’s history.

We are working quickly to bring more frequent GO service to the entire network, including Niagara, while moving full—

Nursing shortages continue to plague Ottawa hospitals. The Queensway Carleton Hospital in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean has had to close ICU beds due to lack of nurses.

Nurses without specialized experience are being assigned to work serious cases in the ICU or trauma cases in the ER. In at least one case, a nurse with only a few months’ experience was put in charge of an entire unit overnight, by herself. Speaker, this is unsustainable and risky. Why is the Premier refusing to repeal Bill 124 and address nursing shortages?

Recently, I met with the nurses of ONA Local 84 who work at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. They are burnt-out and frequently left in tears over assignments that they do not feel qualified to take on.

There are nurses who are quitting and working minimum wage jobs in retail because at least it doesn’t have the stress of nursing.

Will the Premier finally listen to nurses, address working conditions, and repeal Bill 124?

I want to thank the member from Peterborough–Kawartha for the question.

Everyone has a right to feel safe in their own home and in their own communities. Our government has established the guns-and-gangs joint-forces operation that is being led by the Ontario Provincial Police. This is a province-wide tool to help ongoing battles against guns, gangs and violence throughout our province.

The guns-and-gangs joint-forces operation is made possible through a $75-million investment by our government and will increase both intelligence sharing and enforcement action. We will be working with all law enforcement agencies across the province, such as Peterborough, to keep Ontario safe.

Community safety is a top priority, not just for those who work in and support the justice system but for all Ontario families. And as I said before, everyone has a right to feel safe in their own homes and their own communities.

With this in mind, I would like to point out that since the member from Peterborough–Kawartha has been elected, our government has provided more than $11 million in direct grants for policing. For example, starting this year, the province will be investing locally $3 million through the Community Safety and Policing Grant Program.

I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that keeping our community safe is our highest priority.

Monsieur le Président, la sûreté et la sécurité de notre province seront toujours notre priorité absolue.

Speaker, people in my riding are concerned about an increase in crime in our community. Peterborough has always been a peaceful town, and now we’re seeing an increase in gun crime that would have been unheard of not that long ago. We’ve had five shootings in the last five months, with the most recent one being just this past Saturday. People in Peterborough are concerned about an increase in violence that appears to be fuelled by the drug trade.

The media often focus on stories of crimes in larger cities, but I want to know, what’s the Solicitor General doing for communities like Peterborough that are concerned about public safety? How is the Solicitor General going to tackle crime in communities like mine?

It’s great to hear how joint operations can be so effective. Peterborough is a small police service, and their resources are spread thin. Our community looks to the province for support in achieving our provincial goals.

Mr. Speaker, could the minister share more about the investments our government is specifically providing to the people of Peterborough–Kawartha?

I’m surprised to hear that the member for Don Valley East is not aware of the fact that since 1979 hospitals have actually been able to charge for alternate-level-of-care patients. I guess that’s perhaps part of the problem.

At the same time, Mr. Speaker, what we are doing is, we are using—when a patient in a hospital acute care setting has been seen by a doctor, and that doctor has said that their time in an acute care facility should come to an end because they would be better serviced in the community or in a long-term-care home, we are facilitating that for them. That is what we’re doing. We’re listening to medical professionals across the province of Ontario, who all agree. And I think the member opposite—in some of his statements—agrees as well that when you are ready to be discharged from a hospital, when you are on the long-term-care waiting list, the best place for you is in a long-term-care home. We are going to make that happen.

Yes. The Ministry of the Solicitor General, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Health: All of us understand the value and importance of next-generation 911, which is why we are making those investments. We are working with the dispatch to make sure that everyone across Ontario has access to 911, when and where they need it.

I completely agree with the member opposite. We are doing that work. It is in process.

The supplementary question.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 7 is flawed at its core because it violates patient rights. True patient consent must pass three tests: (1) The patient must be capable; (2) they must be fully informed; and (3) they must give their consent voluntarily and freely.

When it comes to transmitting confidential health information and authorizing admission to a long-term-care home, Bill 7 doesn’t even pretend to ask for patient consent. It’s not required. And after all that, if a patient is given space in a faraway, culturally inappropriate long-term-care home, although patients don’t have to say yes, there’s a steep cost to saying no.

To quote the Minister of Long-Term Care on August 24, “Are there instances where the hospital will be charging? Absolutely, if someone refuses to move into a home.”

Will the Minister of Long-Term Care explain why he is choosing to entirely circumvent informed patient consent and instead violate patient autonomy?

Additionally, while I agree that patients need and deserve to be in long-term-care homes, it should be under their own terms and under their own circumstances, not by violating their rights in the process.

You know, this bill is actually so bad, so unethical and so immoral that it actually apologizes for itself. It says, “Despite subsection 3(2), this section ... shall not be interpreted or construed as being inconsistent with the residents’ bill of rights,” even though it does. It fails to pass the three tests of patient consent, it fails to protect patients’ confidential health information and it fails to respect patients’ express wishes.

So I ask again: Will the minister withdraw his bill and instead focus on the root causes of our ALC crisis, such as the mass exodus of health care workers created by Bill 124 in the last four years?

Interjection.

This is to the Premier. The Centre for Social Justice estimates that almost half of the 16,000 Ontarians experiencing homelessness have a disability or mental illness. When this government was elected in 2018, 94 people experiencing homelessness died on the streets of Toronto. Last year, in 2021, the number was 216 Ontarians who died on the streets of Toronto experiencing homelessness. People cannot afford housing, and the government’s promise to raise the ODSP housing allowance to $522 a month does not provide rent for a room anywhere in this province.

So my question is, will this government double ODSP rates so that Ontarians with disabilities have a place to live, or will the number of people dying on the streets of Toronto and across this province experiencing homelessness continue to rise under this government’s watch?

Today, we’re joined by some Ontarians with disabilities. One of them, Leslie, requires a special diet. She says, “The broccoli that used to cost 99 cents is now $5.99.” She says, “It’s obvious that this government doesn’t care.” She says, “I might as well eat garbage and die because no one seems to care.”

My question is to the government. Stop the spin. Stop the rhetoric. People with disabilities in Ontario are dying under your watch. Will you double the ODSP rates so Ontarians with disabilities can live a decent life?

Under the previous Liberal government, people and jobs in my region were abandoned; the east was neglected. Like many areas of this province, manufacturing is a major industry. We are no strangers to the negative impacts of 300,000 manufacturing jobs lost under their watch because of reckless policies.

What is the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade doing to ensure that the residents in my riding and others in Ontario will have good, secure, well-paying jobs for themselves and for their children for years to come?

Entrepreneurs and those with small business ambitions need support, too. Small businesses and start-ups bring dreams to reality. I know many residents in my riding provide food for their families through their small businesses. Speaker, what is the minister doing to help entrepreneurs in my riding start and grow their businesses?

Thank you for the question. Our government is continuously working across ministries to make sure that vulnerable people can get the supports that they need. And our government has invested more in social assistance than any provincial government in history, and I refuse to accept the no-noes across the way.

Our government has made a historic investment in ODSP. We are aligning that with inflation—and that’s not the only thing. We’re working with the federal government to create the Canadian disability benefit. We are urging them to do that on an urgent basis. It’s also across ministries, like I said. It’s the micro-credentialing strategy. It’s the Roadmap to Wellness. It’s the LIFT tax credit. It’s the CARE tax credit. It’s the child care spaces and education.

These are multi-billion-dollar investments, and we’re going to continue to do this important work, despite that the members opposite will continue to say no.

I will not take any lessons from the opposition or from the previous government. We are working on behalf of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. The housing, mental health and addictions crisis is putting huge pressure on our health care system. On June 17, Ontario’s Big City Mayors called for an emergency meeting with the Premier to discuss solutions for homelessness, mental health, safety and addictions. The Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario business improvement associations, chiefs of police, AMO and many others have called for urgent action. Yet we’ve seen little response from this government.

One quick way to help solve this urgent problem would be to immediately increase funding for new and current permanent supportive housing projects. Speaker, will the Premier commit today to new ongoing operational funding for mental health workers and other supports in supportive housing projects to improve people’s lives and reduce stress on our health care system?

Order.

Minister of Long-Term Care.

First and foremost, let me just say this: The problem in acute care in the province of Ontario has been a problem for many, many, many years; a problem that was not addressed by the previous Liberal government, and that was, of course, before Bill 124, Mr. Speaker.

But having said that, we have made significant investments into long-term care—significant investments into long-term care. I will let this medical professional explain to the people who have been discharged from a hospital, who are on the waiting list for a long-term-care home, why, all of a sudden now that he has a seat in this Legislature, their needs are better met in an acute care setting as opposed to a long-term-care setting. Because he will be alone on that, because medical professionals we have talked to and who have been advising us—even patients themselves have said that they want to be in a long-term-care home after they have been discharged from hospital. We are going to make that happen, and we can make that happen because of the investments we’ve made in long-term care and in nursing and in health care across the province.