I’ve had really great discussions with seniors within my riding. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to them because I know their concern has been about long-term care.

We have made historical investments in long-term care, and I know there was strong excitement by the people in my region about being able to have long-term care that was built in our region.

I’ve also had good conversations with our health care system within Ajax, and I recognize that we are challenged. COVID has really ripped off the Band-Aid of quite a few things that were already—the cracks that were already in the system. I know that the ALC patient concern is one of the things that was brought up very often in regard to one of the items that is really causing backlog within our health care system and within our emergency department.

For the people in my riding, I continue to have conversations around what can be done, and for the seniors within my riding, we also have great conversations about the larger capacity in long-term care.

Or HWAD, if you want. It’s a lovely acronym.

I just want to say how disturbing this bill is, because if you read the bill, it talks about all the things that this government can do without the patient’s consent. They can assess you without your consent or the family’s consent. They can send your health records, your personal health records, without your consent. They can assign you and admit you to a home that you may or may not want to go to or that your family doesn’t want to go to. In fact, the only thing it says they don’t have consent to do is to restrain an ALC patient to carry out the actions. So they can do everything but strap granny to a gurney to send her to the long-term-care home.

Why would this government put forward such a cruel bill when our seniors have suffered so much already? Five thousand seniors died—

Thank you so much to the member from Scarborough Southwest for that excellent question, and thank you for all you do for your community as well. I’m always hearing about the extraordinary work you’re doing there to serve folks from your community, many of whom are, I know, coming to you with the same issues and concerns about this legislation, about their family members, about the state of our health care system and long-term care. As you mentioned, one of the real issues here is the protection of patient rights.

But why is this government doing this? To save the for-profit long-term-care industry from financial ruin. That’s why they’re doing it. That would be my assumption. Again, I won’t, I can’t speak for them, but if you look at what’s going on in the industry right now—

Interjection: That’s imputing motive.

I thank my colleague from Scarborough Southwest for her thoughtful comments on the topic, and I appreciate that the member read some feedback from a Scarborough resident. I have some feedback I’d like to read to the House: “Great news for Ontario hospitals.” Another quote goes on to say, “These changes will provide faster access to care, positively impact ... patient outcomes and improve the patient experience.” Of course, Madam Speaker, these are the quotes of David Graham, the interim CEO of Scarborough Health Network.

I know the member voted against the Scarborough medical school, which also had the support of the Scarborough Health Network, but I would ask the member, knowing this new information from her own hospitals in her area, will the member revise her opinion and support the government’s bill?