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?

We are in a health care crisis. Emergency rooms are closing. Hundreds of health care jobs are vacant. The fundamental problem with this bill is that it’s blaming the patient—the most vulnerable, the seniors—for a problem that’s not their fault. Instead of solving the issue, it’s blaming the patient, the seniors. Patients, experts and front-line workers have offered this government solutions. Instead of listening, this government has ignored them all.

Repeal Bill 124. Give them paid sick days. Hire more nurses. Hire more PSWs. You can do so many things. Get internationally trained professionals recognized. These are real solutions to address this problem, not Bill 7.

This government has put a cruel plan forward that threatens seniors with huge fees if they refuse to move hundreds of kilometres from friends and families. My question is, why is this government being so cruel to the most vulnerable people of our province?

We’ve heard time and time again that the Liberals and the NDP have damaged rural Ontario’s economy. That’s why in 2018 we promised families that our government would do things differently, and we have. We quickly launched a $100-million Regional Development Program to support businesses and create rural jobs. This program supports regional and rural Ontario companies and it invests and creates jobs. It has attracted almost $1 billion to date in outside investments and created 2,200 jobs.

In Woodstock, ArcelorMittal Tailored Blanks invested $17.4 million in a project to upgrade its auto parts manufacturing facility. With the help of our rural Regional Development Program, 32 jobs were created. Speaker, that’s an example of our commitment to the people of Oxford and the families of rural Ontario.

Together, the Liberals and the NDP turned the dreams of entrepreneurship into nightmares. Red tape, unaffordable hydro, high taxes: All of that threw cold water on their entrepreneurial flames. We saw the problems that they created, so we cut red tape, reduced taxes and fixed their hydro mess. We lowered the cost of doing business by $7 billion each and every single year.

We are providing $362,000 to the Woodstock Small Business Enterprise Centre, to offer those entrepreneurs all the tools they need to start and grow their businesses, and another $95,000 for Oxford’s Summer Company and Starter Company Plus, to help students and young entrepreneurs start their business. Speaker, that’s how we’re helping those entrepreneurs.

Mr. Speaker, I can only surmise that the leader of the Liberal Party put a new member up to ask that question because perhaps the member didn’t understand the legacy of the Liberal Party.

It was the Liberals who treated our seniors so poorly for so long. Six hundred and eleven beds is the legacy of the Liberal Party; 611 beds is the legacy of the Liberal Party, Mr. Speaker.

We have invested in 58,000 new and upgraded beds across the province. They refused to do it. They froze the food budget; we increased it, Mr. Speaker. We increased staffing; we increased inspections. These are all things that we are doing, and we are increasing the level of care to four hours a day. When we took over, it was at two and a half hours. That is the legacy of the Liberal government—a government that spent more than any other government in the history of this province and has what to show for it? They have nothing to show for it. We’ll get the job done for seniors because we know we can do better.

My Don Valley West constituents are also concerned about Bill 7 and the effect it will have on patient care, which is stated as a priority in the government’s budget. Yet elderly patients risk being transferred to facilities far from family and their community, which play an important role in supporting seniors in need.

Seniors in long-term-care facilities—in particular, private ones—have suffered a great deal during the pandemic, with higher death rates and long periods of isolation. Once again, this government is asking seniors, some of our most vulnerable, to take one for the team and help solve the crisis in our hospitals by moving to a home not of their choosing, instead of acknowledging that we are in a staffing crisis created by measures like Bill 124.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister of Long-Term Care tell us why this government is treating our seniors like a burden and legislating unfair treatment with Bill 7 instead of solving the staffing problem and treating our health care workers respectfully by repealing Bill 124?

That member is a tireless advocate for building transit in her riding. I want to thank her for her efforts and for the question this morning.

It’s indeed true: The previous Liberal government left Ontario unprepared for both today’s and tomorrow’s transit needs. Fortunately, though, under the leadership of this Premier, we have a bold plan to advance forward, build transit and get people moving across the GTA.

I’m glad to remind members that we broke ground on the Ontario Line at Exhibition station earlier this year on March 27. The Ontario Line is the crown jewel of our historic $28.5-billion expansion plan for the GTA—the largest in Canadian history—fulfilling our promise to deliver transit relief to Toronto’s core. It’s going to stretch 15.5 kilometres from Exhibition to the Ontario Science Centre. The Ontario Line will generate $11 billion back to the local economy, support over 4,700 jobs a year during construction and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 14,000 tonnes annually.

Through the Ontario Line, our government is delivering on the promises we made and moving people from point A to point B.

That’s why we’re advancing the largest subway expansion in Canadian history with an investment of $28.5 billion, to build not just the Ontario Line but the Eglinton Crosstown West extension, the Yonge North subway expansion and, of course, the Scarborough subway east extension as well.

We’re making travel easier for people by connecting them to work, connecting the grid—a spider web of transit to home, school and all the places they need to be, not stuck getting from point A to point B.

What’s more, we’re expanding the GTA’s subway system by 50%, and that’s going to create local jobs and community benefits, cut emissions and gridlock and connect parts of the GTA that have never been connected to the subway network before.

Speaker, unlike the Liberals and the NDP, we’re building transit and getting Ontario ready for the future.

A new Statistics Canada report has indicated that the number of residents in the province could climb to more than 19 million by 2043. This is an increase of about 30% since 2021. And many are choosing Etobicoke and Toronto as their home.

Experts warn that Ontario is ill-prepared to handle the growth as it lacks the infrastructure to support the growing population, especially in major urban centres like Toronto. Because of years of neglect and improper planning on transit expansion by the previous Liberal government, propped up by our friends the NDP, cities like Toronto are already living with the consequences of their inaction.

Speaker, what is the government doing to build up our transit infrastructure to address the incoming population increase?

Transit and infrastructure experts are raising concerns about what the future could look like if we don’t make the investments needed for tomorrow. They have warned us to keep pace with the growth we see; and we need to plan and act now on transit and other infrastructure needs.

Speaker, can the Associate Minister of Transportation please explain how our government is addressing future transit infrastructure needs today?

The associate minister.

Meegwetch, Speaker. Remarks in Oji-Cree.

My question is to the Premier. Northern Ontario hospitals are disproportionately impacted by health care staff shortages. In Sioux Lookout and in Red Lake, hospitals are relying on locum physicians and agency nurses to fill the staffing gaps. Speaker, this is not sustainable.

Why is the government allowing private agencies to create these gaps, when they should be working with northern hospitals to create sustainable solutions?

What is this government doing today to fix the health care staffing issues in Kiiwetinoong, not in southern Ontario?

It is important for all of us to appreciate that there have been many plans in the works, including, of course, two exciting new announcements in Brampton and Scarborough for new opportunities for people to become doctors in Ontario and stay and train in Ontario. Along with adding 400 physician residents to support the workforce in northern and rural Ontario—we’ve been doing that work.

Clearly, when you hear from individuals like Anthony Dale of the Ontario Hospital Association that “Ontario’s hospitals are rapidly becoming the health care provider of last resort for thousands of people who actually need access to home care, long-term care and other services,” it is precisely why our government has invested a billion dollars in our most recent budget to ensure that community care happens in community, where people want it.

The issues raised by the member opposite are not new. They are not something that has happened in the last weeks and months. This is something that has historically been a challenge: to recruit and retain people in northern Ontario to practise. Frankly, I would respectfully remind the member that it was a Progressive Conservative government that actually started the last most recent medical school in northern Ontario.

Because it is the law in the province of Ontario, and became the law through the Fixing Long-Term Care Act. Nobody can be moved into a home that does not have the resources to handle the person that is being transferred in. That is the whole point of this bill. I’m not sure how the member could actually get up in her place and ask this question, and then say that she’s not in support of the bill that we are bringing forward.

But I’ll go even further: I challenge the member to lay on the table what the Liberals did with respect to long-term care. Did they get us to four hours? No. Did they build new homes? No. Did they increase the food budget? No. When it comes to health care, they failed not only seniors in this province, they failed so many people in the province of Ontario. We’re reversing that. We are making historic investments because we know how important health care is to ensuring a strong, stable government that can meet the needs of Ontarians for decades to come, for the economy and education. We’re getting it done because we know how—

My question is to the Premier. This government’s failure to deal with the health care crisis is not just affecting hospitals; it’s hurting patients who rely on home care as well.

This month, Robin Floyd’s son, who is vision-impaired and has a heart condition, went for surgery at London Health Sciences Centre. After being discharged with a drainage tube, he was told that a home care nurse would come the next day to check the incision and drain the tube. After countless phone calls and endless frustration, Robin finally managed to get a home care appointment nine days after her son had his surgery.

Does this government believe that that is an appropriate standard of care?

Kim’s story is not new and not unique. The VON told me they can’t meet 50% of the referrals they get. Why is this government completely ignoring the long-standing problems in home and community care?

The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are making it challenging for businesses in Ontario to find the skilled women and men they need to grow and prosper. Small business owners continue to feel the pressure of the labour shortage, and the skilled and semi-skilled labour shortage remains one of the main factors limiting business growth. We know that small businesses are a significant contributor to Ontario’s economy, so it is essential to help them thrive and feel confident about the future.

Speaker, can the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development share with the House what assistance our government is providing workers to train them with the skills they need to help restart our economy?