Supplementary question.

Premier.

The final supplementary.

My question to the Premier. This government is giving itself the power to sign people up for long-term-care homes they don’t want to go to. Yesterday, the long-term care minister admitted to media that they will use financial coercion to make them go. He said, “Should a hospital charge them? Absolutely.”

Why does this government believe that a hospital stay should end with a bill?

Late yesterday, we learned the government plans to ram this legislation through without any hearings or opportunities to hear from front-line workers and from families whose lives will be devastated by these changes. Why is the government so unwilling to hear from families and front-line workers who will be devastated by this bill?

Interjections.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre.

Every day over the last week has raised new concerns about the government’s plan for private health care. Today, we have a leaked copy of a poll from the government’s pollster of record, asking Ontarians whether they agree with the following statement: “I should be able to pay for my own health care to get better service in Ontario.”

I would like to put the same question to our Premier: Does the Premier think people should be able to pay their way to better health care in Ontario?

Back to the Premier: It’s not just about private health care. The same government poll asks people whether they agree that the government should allow more private and/or charter schools in Ontario—charter schools. That is public funding of private education, let’s be clear.

Does the Premier agree that public money for Ontario’s education should be diverted to private and charter schools?

Why is this Premier so determined to divert public money from our schools and our hospitals at such a great cost to Ontarians?

Good morning, Speaker. My question is to the Premier. Earlier this month, the London Health Sciences Centre was forced to close their world-leading epilepsy monitoring unit due to critical staffing shortages. The unit being closed and a lack of access to EEGs means even more delayed surgeries. Think of the impacts to health, mental health and the quality of life of patients suffering from seizures.

When will this government admit the crisis in health care is real and address the staffing shortage that they created?

People on waiting lists are waiting even longer and it is because of the disrespectful policies of this government. Epilepsy patients, like Sarah, live in fear wondering when their next episode is going to happen.

Clearly, the Minister of Health wants to peddle privatization as a cure all for the crisis Conservative cuts have created. Overworked and underappreciated by this government, then Bill 124? It’s a perfect storm. Will this government finally admit they got it wrong, repeal Bill 124, and finally treat health care professionals with respect, yes or no?

My question is to the Minister of Health. You announced the creation of the operating room assist position at Hamilton Health Sciences, but we’re hearing a concerning story from registered nurses. Registered nurses at Hamilton Health Sciences caution that replacing highly trained scrub nurses with ORAs puts patient safety at risk in the operating room. Patients don’t want someone in their OR who is unable to intervene when unexpected things happen during surgery. When a patient is coding in the operating room, there isn’t time to wait for a nurse. Delays can be the difference between life and death. With only 22 hours of online learning, two practice labs and two weeks of practical experience, ORAs do not have the same expert knowledge and specialized training as highly skilled scrub nurses.

My question: Will you stop cuts to nursing at the cost of patient care and require Hamilton Health Sciences to keep nurses in the critical scrub nurse role?

I agree that we need to address the nursing crisis, but you are compromising the standard of surgical care for patients to save money. You need to invest and protect the scrub nurse position to ensure patients get the care they need and deserve. Without proper standards of care, patients may have a higher risk of unexpected complications, which could result in multiple surgeries and, in the worst-case scenario, even lose their lives.

My question to the Minister of Health: Will you address the nursing crisis by ensuring that the right care is provided at the right time by the right provider and stop removing scrub nurses from that critical role in the operating room?

Again, this question will highlight some of the work that we have already undertaken with the Ontario College of Nurses and with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to expedite the internationally trained experts in health care who want to practise in the province of Ontario. We have asked and directed those two colleges to make sure that people who have applied have their process going through very quickly so that they get that accreditation and they get that licensing because the member is right: We need to increase the supply of health care workers in the province of Ontario.

I would add respectfully that this is not unique to Ontario. As recently as two days ago, I was meeting with the FPT, the federal, provincial and territorial leaders, to talk specifically about what Canada can do and how they can assist to make sure that those internationally trained individuals who want to practise in Ontario can do so quickly.

Thank you to the member for Elgin–Middlesex–London for that important question. He is right. We need to increase health human resources, and that starts with post-secondary education.

Our government, under the leadership of this Premier, is getting it done by taking action to increase health human resources across Ontario through our historic expansion of health care post-secondary education. This includes building the first new medical school in the GTA in over 100 years. Speaker, the last medical school built in the GTA was at the University of Toronto in 1843. We are the government that is building the new Toronto Metropolitan University medical school in Brampton. We’re also creating the new University of Toronto Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health in Scarborough and expanding the Queen’s Lakeridge Health campus. Earlier this year, we also established the Northern Ontario School of Medicine as the first stand-alone medical school in northern Ontario.

Earlier this year, we also announced our Learn and Stay program, which over the next four years can help 3,000 nurse graduates receive financial supports to cover the cost of tuition in exchange for committing to practise for two years in an underserved community. We want to ensure that everyone has access to health care where they need it, when they need it.

The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have put pressure on the health care system right here in Ontario. We need more health care professionals now more than ever. With our health care services trying to stabilize after dealing with the COVID pandemic over the last two years, we need to address these urgent pressures so our province can stay open with an even stronger health care network.

Medical education is critical to providing Ontario with the health care and human resources that are desperately needed. Can the Minister of Colleges and Universities share the government’s plan to expand medical education so we can welcome more medical trainees into this province?

We currently have six universities that provide undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, but more action is needed to strengthen our health care and intellectual infrastructure. Our government understands the need for the correct number and mix of health professionals in the right places throughout this province.

Speaker, can the minister update the House on what the government is doing to strengthen the development of our existing medical education and professional development programs?

There is no government in the history of this province, under the leadership of the Premier, that invested more in public health care than this government. Mr. Speaker, that includes investing in health human resources.

Since March 2020, we have added over 10,900 health care professionals across this province. This includes making sure that, in the future, we also have health care professionals by building medical schools in places like Brampton and Scarborough, making sure we almost double the number of doctors in the north. We put forward programs in the fall economic statement: $342 million to support adding over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses, as well as an additional 8,000 personal support workers.

Every step of the way, Mr. Speaker, the members opposite have voted against each of these measures to help support health human resources across this province. That is a shame.

I want to thank the member from Oakville for his question. It is relevant because we didn’t sign the first deal, as proposed by the opposition. We signed a better deal for the people of Ontario, a deal with $13.2 billion of investment. We’re talking about literally $3 billion more, an additional year—the only province in the federation to have that type of funding certainty—and a commitment to for-profit and non-profit child care operators, in which those 30% of for-profit operators would have been omitted if, God forbid, we had followed the advice of the opposition.

We stood up for all families, for parental choice and ensured that every single parent is eligible for the reductions they deserve: $4,000 this year on average; $12,000 per child next year on average, on the way to $10 a day by the year 2025.

This is a massive step forward as we encourage more economic participation of women in the economy, and we reduced costs at a time of national inflation. We’re going to continue to work with all levels of government to deliver the affordability parents deserve.

Our Premier has a mandate to get the job done, to reduce fees, and part of our plan is to listen to the advice of the very operators, often women entrepreneurs, who run these centres.

I want to give a shout-out to the member from Ajax, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education, who has been leading efforts to streamline the process, to reduce red tape, to create funding guideline guarantees—exactly what the sector wanted—and more time for them to enrol and build comfort, to November 1, as we work together to increase participation, decrease costs and make life affordable for Ontario families.

My question is to the Premier. Carmen is the primary caregiver for her 91-year-old mother. Her mom qualifies for two showers a week through home care, and Carmen made an inquiry to see if she could get a bit more. Her mom was re-evaluated and now she gets one shower per week.

Is that an example of the enhanced home care that this government keeps boasting about?

So is that the solution? Pouring billions of dollars isn’t the answer if Carmen’s mom only gets one shower, at the end of the day, through home care. I keep hearing “billions of dollars,” but it’s services to people that matter. Is this government actually going to provide the service through public health care?

When I talk to heads of nurses’ unions, when I talk to doctors, when I talk to health care professionals, they say, “We want to work as a team. We want to be part of that continuum of care for the patient.” It is exactly why we are encouraging funding and enabling Ontario health teams to be operating in the province of Ontario. From diagnosis through treatment through placement, we now have a coordinated system that allows that patient to have a touchpoint no matter where they are in their continuum of care. That’s the kind of thing that gives patients and families comfort, that they know that wherever they are in their treatment, they are going to have a touchpoint and a group of professionals who are working together for the best outcome.

We are investing not only in the nursing visits, in the shifting hours, in the therapy visits—including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology—but we’re also doing it within the community. That is, as many of us know, the programs like adult day programs, meal services, transportation, caregiver supports and assisted living services.

Will the member opposite be supporting this $1-billion investment in our budget?

We’ll continue to do that innovation. We’ll continue to bring forward the things that people need when they want to stay safely in their own homes. That is including an investment that we have made in this year’s budget. I hope the member opposite takes a close look at what that investment will mean to his community and people across Ontario, and do the right thing and vote for our budget.

Supplementary.

Soaring inflation is causing parents in my riding to spend more money and save less. Often these families must work more to keep up with rising costs.

Under the previous Liberal government, the cost of child care rose 400% from an already astronomically high number. The government negotiated with the federal government to lower these costs, but our province was the last to sign an agreement to bring affordable, $10-per-day child care to the people of Ontario. The Liberals and NDP say they would have signed a deal to provide relief earlier.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Education, why was Ontario the last province in the nation to sign a deal with the federal government and what difference will the working parents of this province see in this period of economic uncertainty?

The government needs to help operators sign this agreement that will put hard-earned dollars back into the pockets of families. We need to do everything we can to incentivize operators to opt in to this deal that will provide certainty for parents. The minister has changed aspects of the deal and now operators are saying they are confused, which impedes their willingness to sign on.

Speaker, what exactly has the government changed in this child care agreement and will these changes make a substantive difference for operators who have not signed on?

I’m very proud to be here to represent the very green riding of Beaches–East York.

My question is to the Premier, whom I know well from our days at Toronto city hall together. Last week, the federal government put out a climate adaptation report. Guess what, Mr. Speaker? Ontario is falling behind on mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, and that is because of “limited political will,” as the report states. Ontario’s infrastructure is especially vulnerable to climate change and will result in cascading economic and social impacts. The cost of inaction for climate change is too much.

So far, I have not seen the government propose anything to protect and create resilient infrastructure. What good is building highways if they flood over and have to get repaired every single year? We could be creating the strongest, most resilient province in this country. Instead, we cannot even say the word “climate” in the throne speech.

Mr. Speaker, why won’t this government take climate change seriously? When can Ontarians expect this government to stand up and take a leadership role to safeguard the future of Ontarians?

The supplementary question.

Next question.

My question is to the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Constituents in my riding of Niagara West face a shortage of skilled trades, frankly, like we have never seen before. Families depend on these trades to maintain their homes, their vehicles and their businesses. Entrepreneurs and workers alike need these trades to build the products that we know will make us the envy of the world.

Education investments and skills development are crucial to keeping our local economies competitive and building up our skilled trades, so could the minister please tell this House what the government is doing to invest in and develop talent in the skilled trades?

What is our government doing to ensure that there is training for people in Lincoln, West Lincoln, Grimsby and across the Niagara region to make these projects a reality?

Speaker, to the Premier: During the provincial election, 11 people died in a climate pump storm system that charged through Ontario and Quebec. The climate crisis is deadly and yet the Premier has no credible climate plan. When will the Premier present a serious and funded plan to address the climate crisis?