It’s my great pleasure to introduce to the House my wife, Susie. We celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary last Thursday.

Applause.

To the Premier: Less than two weeks ago, the government announced sweeping changes to Ontario’s health care system. And late last week, they revealed they would be rushing these changes through and bypassing any hearings at all.

Why is the government refusing to hear from the front-line workers and families who will be impacted by these changes?

The Ford government’s scheme could force patients into long-term-care homes up to 300 kilometres away from their families—300 kilometres—and hit them with massive fees if they refuse to move.

We just completed an election campaign. We didn’t hear a single word from this government about this scheme at that time. But now after announcing it less than 12 days ago, they’re shutting down any discussion.

Why are they afraid to hear from the families and front-line workers who will be devastated by these changes?

Good morning, everyone. I am rising in the House today to celebrate the return of an important annual event in my riding, the Taste of the Kingsway. For two years, the Taste of the Kingsway has been on hold. I’m very glad to inform this House today that it will be returning September 9 to 11, and I’ll be kicking it off at 6 p.m. It’s located on Etobicoke’s bustling Kingsway strip.

This festival has a history of more than 20 years, and it is the largest street festival in south Etobicoke. At the Taste of the Kingsway you can experience live music, rides and games, a Ferris wheel, street performers, children’s activities and even a dog show. This festival has been a critical event on the Etobicoke summer calendar for a number of years, and I’m sure my excitement is shared by many people in the Etobicoke community that it will be returning.

Not only is it a fun time, it is supporting a great cause. The Taste of the Kingsway is a proud supporter of Campfire Circle, a non-profit summer camp for children affected by childhood cancer.

The Taste of the Kingsway can be reached via Royal York subway station. The city will be closing Bloor Street for the festival.

I sincerely invite all members of this House, as well as the broader public, to come down and help celebrate the return of this local institution. And please, while you’re at the Taste of the Kingsway enjoying our local shops and restaurants, don’t forget to drop by my booth and visit me and say hello.

I’d like to welcome the members of the family of a new page, Daniyal Elahi. His mother, Saadia Elahi, sister Nadia and brother Harris are with us this morning as well.

I would like to welcome my very good friend, a community activist and a mentor to many international students, Sukhjit Singh Ahluwalia; his father, Gurdip Singh Ahluwalia; and his family Mandip Singh Nijjar and Vijay Marwaha. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

We can impact people in so many different ways. I am going to introduce someone who has done so through art. His music has touched the lives of millions around the world. It is my honour and great pleasure to introduce two-time Academy and Grammy award winner, and one of the greatest artists of our time, A.R. Rahman.

I’d like to welcome our friend Chief Jason Henry of the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. Thank you for coming down and paying a visit.

Let me quote the NDP member from Waterloo, who, on December 12, 2019, said about ALC, “These are patients who should not be in a hospital.” Unbelievable, after what we’ve been hearing, what they’ve been saying lately. “They should be in long-term care or in retirement or assisted living options.”

A second NDP member, for Oshawa, who, on March 26, 2018, said on ALC: “I’d love to have a conversation about alternate level of care, or ALC, which is taking up our hospital space for folks in transition, in limbo. Are they even on waiting lists? They’re just in limbo, so do they count? Are they on the waiting list? I’d love to put them somewhere.”

So, on one side, they’re saying that they shouldn’t be in the hospitals; next day, they should be in the hospitals. Make up your minds.

The supplementary question.

Speaker, it’s not clear who the government is listening to. Long-term-care homes have told the government there are not enough beds in long-term-care homes to relieve hospital pressures—the operators themselves. Front-line nurses have told the government that Bill 7 does nothing to address the hospital crisis in Ontario; it simply forces patients from one understaffed environment into another.

Is the government refusing to hold hearings because they know their plan won’t work and they don’t want to hear it?

This morning, we heard from people across the province, actually, who represent different sectors: seniors’ advocates, retirees, health care workers. We heard from folks who represent workers. We heard from people who are very concerned about Bill 7. And, of course, we heard from health care workers from different sectors.

One PSW told us that Bill 7 “blames the most vulnerable people for a health care crisis that’s not their fault and forces them ... hundreds of kilometres outside their communities, away from their families and friends.

“There absolutely is a staffing crisis in health care in this province,” this PSW said, but “this won’t do a thing to address it.”

Already overworked and underpaid health care staff will be faced with the ethical dilemma of compromising quality of care to discharge and clear beds. So my question is, why is this government refusing to listen to front-line workers who are offering real solutions?

You could ask anyone in Ontario: Would they want their elderly loved-one sitting in a hospital, in a bed, as noise is going around 24/7, not being able to get out and take a walk, when you can give them a home—not a bed, but a home. And a home would be in a long-term-care home. They have entertainment at night. They are able to walk around. Family members are able to come in and watch the entertainment with them. That’s a home versus a hospital, where you’re stuck in a room with four other patients, the alarms are going off, bells are going off.

That would be cruel, to leave a loved one, any parent in this province, in a hospital. We need them in a home. And that’s what we’re providing: 58,000 new homes.

You had four years to improve the system and made it infinitely worse over those four years. The system has been in desperate crisis for that whole time.

The health care crisis is hitting northerners especially hard, and Bill 7 will make the crisis worse, not better. Forcing seniors to move 300 kilometres away from their loved ones will be devastating and traumatic for elders and their families. Currently in Thunder Bay–Superior North, we face—actually, we have beds. We have some beds, but there’s no staff, and this has been going on for a long time.

Seniors and persons with disabilities are being defined as bed-blockers by this government, only to be repurposed as profit enhancers for privately owned homes when they haven’t fulfilled their 98% fullness to get their full public allotment of dollars. Why is this government refusing to address the staffing crisis that is the source of the funding crisis?

The government is refusing to hear from patients and front-line health workers about Bill 7, so the NDP held hearings of its own this morning. Here’s what front-line experts called the Ford government’s scheme this morning: “The process is antidemocratic. The bill is a shocking abandonment of patient rights.” They called this “Hunger Games health care. The bill is callously misleading Ontarians.”

Why is this Ford government moving ahead without hearings? Because they don’t want to hear what a disaster it will be.

People on the front lines are warning this government: This puts seniors’ lives at risk. Why are they refusing to listen? Why are they not thinking about the 5,000 seniors that have already died in long-term-care facilities, 40 over the last two weeks? Repeal Bill 124.

Government House leader and Minister of Long-Term Care.

Premier to reply.

Speaker, I honestly do not know where the NDP have been. As the Premier just highlighted, of course, they talked about this before. We have known that this has been a problem for decades in the province of Ontario: how to handle ALC patients in our hospitals. We have said the status quo is not an option. We have invested billions of dollars into our long-term-care system. Experts agree that the best place for somebody who has been discharged from hospital, who is on the long-term-care-home waiting list, to wait for their preferred home of choice is in a long-term-care home, not in a hospital bed.

The status quo will not work, and we will not stop. We will improve the system for the people who are in our hospitals, who are waiting to become residents of long-term-care homes. Despite their protecting of the status quo, we will move forward, because it’s better for the residents of long-term care, Mr. Speaker.

I look at the words of the former member for Timmins, Gilles Bisson, when he talked about long-term care. What does this mean when we don’t transfer people out of hospitals into long-term care? He said what this means is “that when you bring your child to the hospital because they broke their arm, you have to wait longer at the emergency because there is no place to deal with them.”

While they can support the status quo, we will not, because we know that if you’re a senior on the long-term-care waiting list being discharged from a hospital, your better place to be is in a long-term-care home, not in a hospital bed waiting for that transfer.

We’ve invested in 58,000 new and upgraded homes all across the province, in every region—north, south, east, west, rural, remote, urban. We are adding 27,000 additional health care workers, four hours of care, the Fixing Long-Term Care Act—a ground-breaking piece of legislation that they voted against.

But the reality is, there are 6,000 people in hospital beds who have been discharged and are looking for care somewhere else. Long-term care can be part of the solution for the first time in decades. There are close to 2,000 seniors in hospital, waiting to be in a long-term-care home, Mr. Speaker. Experts agree that that is not the place for a senior. They deserve to be in long-term-care homes. This bill facilitates that from happening and allows our acute care system to recover for the first time in decades. We can be a part and we will.

Long-term care can be part of a solution, and you know why we can be part of that solution, Mr. Speaker? Because we are making incredible investments into long-term care: 58,000 new and upgraded beds across the province, 27,000 additional health care workers, four hours of care—all things that the Liberals and NDP refused to do when they had the opportunity, something that this Premier said he would do even in advance of becoming the Premier. It was a major plank.

We started from day one transitioning health care in this province, and we will not stop. We will not support the status quo, because we can do better and we will do better for seniors and all Ontarians.

Under the previous Liberal government, people and jobs in rural regions like mine felt abandoned. Announcement after announcement of investments and employment concerned only the GTA. My constituents want to know that things are different with our government. What is the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade doing to ensure that my constituents and others in rural Ontario will have good, secure, well-paying jobs for themselves and their children for years to come?

Last week, I heard the member from Newmarket–Aurora mention that her constituents are concerned about entrepreneurship opportunities in her riding. Well, today I’m echoing those concerns for my constituents. Entrepreneurs and their small businesses employ thousands in Oxford. While the Regional Development Program supports companies in Oxford and across the province, it does not have provisions for those with business aspirations or in the start-up phase.

Entrepreneurs and those with small business ambitions need support too. Speaker, what is the minister doing to help entrepreneurs in my riding start and grow their businesses?

The supplementary question.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Le projet de loi 7 est un grand souci pour les gens de la province, encore plus pour les francophones. Pourquoi? Parce qu’il y a déjà une lacune quant aux établissements de soins de longue durée désignés francophones. Il y en a 30 en Ontario. Il y a des listes d’attente exorbitantes dans tous les foyers du Nord.

Cela dit, cette loi va forcer des résidents francophones de se faire transférer à des centres unilingues, et ça, à plusieurs heures de chez nous et à l’encontre de leur désir. C’est inacceptable.

Ma question : est-ce que le gouvernement va modifier le projet de loi 7 et respecter le choix d’emplacement des résidents?

Les études démontrent que 68 % des gens en soins de longue durée souffrent de démence, et souvent ces gens reviennent à leur langue maternelle. C’est primordial pour la santé et le bien-être des personnes âgées d’être parmi leurs proches et d’être entourées de gens francophones.

Est-ce que le gouvernement va respecter les lits NSD francophones et leur accorder le droit de demeurer dans leurs communautés et de ne pas être transférés sans leur consentement et faire face à des coûts exorbitants?

Just the opposite, Mr. Speaker: We are listening to front-line workers and we’re listening to health care professionals, all of whom are unified in telling us that when your loved one has been discharged from hospital, the best place for them to be is in a long-term-care home. There are close to 2,000 seniors waiting in hospital who have been discharged who want to be in a long-term-care home.

This bill facilitates that to happen. It ensures that they stay at the top of the waiting list for their priority home. It provides additional levels of care, whether it’s Behavioural Supports Ontario or kidney dialysis. It works with our health care professionals.

Had the opposition even read the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, they would know that no home in this province can accept a patient unless they have the appropriate level of staffing and resources to handle the person that they are getting. It is about fixing long-term care. It is about making things better for seniors—

We are making massive investments in health care all over the province. We started in 2018, when we brought in Ontario health teams. We then went further by adding 58,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds. We closed down the ward rooms. We brought in infection prevention and control measures and supported that.

This bill brings back the respite care program, when a senior has no other option but to bring one of their loved ones to hospital because there’s no other option. We are bringing it back so you can bring them back into home care. Experts agree this is the best quality care, and we will stand up for the best quality of care for our seniors.

I hope, given the member’s question, he will agree that given that, it is obviously better for somebody, as opposed to being in a hospital, to be getting that care—the care for dementia, kidney dialysis—in a home. That’s what this is about, and I hope they will support us on this.