It is my pleasure to start my hour lead on Bill 7, the More Beds, Better Care Act.

Because I have a little bit of time, I want to place this in context. Our hospital system has been overcrowded for a long time. You have heard me and many others talk about hallway medicine for a long time. What does hallway medicine mean? It means that if a hospital has 300 beds, they have 350 patients admitted. The other 50 who don’t have a bed will end up in a hallway, in a TV room, in a bathroom, at the end of a unit, wherever they can place them. This has been an ongoing problem.

This government is making the link that, in general, most large community hospitals have about 20% of their beds which are occupied by what is called alternate-level-of-care—they’re referred to as ALC. Most people who get that designation are frail, elderly people. They want, like 90% of all elderly people, to live at home. They want to be supported at home. But the home care system fails them. The home care system does not allow them to stay home safely. They end up in trouble. They fall. They don’t take their medications when they are supposed to. They end up in the hospital. Once they’re in the hospital, the attending physician says, “I cannot send you back home because I know that the home care system will fail you again and you will end up in more trouble,” so they put them towards a long-term-care home. They become ALC simply because they cannot do the transfer to a long-term-care home as fast as their care needs are no longer requiring hospitalization.

I want to go a little bit into what could be done to prevent 20% of most community hospital beds being presently occupied by patients labelled as alternate-level-of-care: Fix our home care system. Give people the care they need where they need it, which is at home.

I have many examples of people from my own riding whom the home care system has failed.

I want to share the story of Lucie Laplante. Lucie Laplante’s husband is Gabriel. Gabriel is in—oh, no, not this story yet. I will start with another, shorter story, because I see that I only have a few minutes on the clock.

I will start with Mrs. D. Mrs. D lives in Hanmer, in my riding. Her husband broke his neck several years ago. He has been on the mend, but he suffered another fall a year later and has deteriorated. She sold their home and moved to something that would be more accessible for him, but she cannot bring him home from the hospital, because there is no home care. He needs a lift to get out of bed and into a wheelchair to get around. He is unable to stand on his own. He went for rehab for three months at the Clarion, which is a hotel that is presently being rented by our hospital to care for people in overflow—because our hospital is overflowing. He has been in the hospital since December 2021. While at the hospital, he got out of bed, fell and banged his head. She is making an inquiry on her own to find private home care, and she is buying all of the equipment that he needs to stay home, like a hospital bed to have at home. But everybody is telling her that he needs to stay at the hospital because home care is not available. The hospital is telling her that they could provide home care for one hour a day, five days a week, as long as she got a lift and a wheelchair. She wants her husband to be cared for at home, not at the hospital, but she’s having difficulties working out a discharge plan, although she is willing to pay for all of the equipment needed. She wants her husband at home. This story repeats itself over and over. This person is now being placed for a long-term-care bed when all they want is to go back home.

I see you’re looking at your watch, Speaker, so I will sit down.

The member from Markham–Unionville.

In Kiiwetinoong, I think we have 20 long-term-care beds for 34,000 people, and we have 14 long-term boil water advisories. I’m not sure what this bill will do for a person who is in Fort Severn. Fort Severn is the most northerly community in Ontario. There’s about 600 people who live there. When you access a long-term-care facility, it takes four and half years to get a bed. You leave your community without your family, you die alone and you come back in a casket.

How is this bill going to support our elders, our knowledge keepers in Fort Severn, Ontario?

Thank you, Speaker. Nice to see you in the chair this morning. Good morning, everybody.

More than usual, my body may be here in the Legislature, but my heart is back home. And the reason my heart is back home in Ottawa is linked to this tie I am wearing today. This week is Capital Pride in Ottawa, and Capital Pride is the moment where our city celebrates our gender diversity.

It’s a week where a talented crew, led by the executive director of Capital Pride Ottawa, Toby Whitfield, puts on event after event to mention that our city is open and inclusive to everyone, including, within minutes of this speech, there is going to be Family Drag Storytime, led by some of our city’s best and most talented drag queens, to welcome gender-diverse kids and their families in the story. There’s going to be Café au Gay tonight at Happy Goat Coffee at 35 Laurel Street. There will be a Capital Pride pageant for which people can buy tickets this Friday. There is going to be an amazing Capital Pride Parade this Sunday, starting at 1 p.m., marching through our downtown core.

I invite all the members of this House to visit our city and join us. Join your political party, join your faith community, join your community organization. For the first time in two years, let’s march and celebrate Capital Pride, and let’s also salute the donation target this year, Capital Rainbow Refuge, which welcomes gender-diverse people from all over the world to our community so they can be their fullest self.

Happy Pride, capital Ottawa. Let’s welcome each other to this great city. Bye for now.

Thank you.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Tomorrow, the people of Ukraine will be commemorating the 31st anniversary of independence. Speaker, this independence day is like no other. For me, as a Polish Canadian, it is a stark reminder that freedom and independence are fought through the sacrifices of brave men and women.

Speaker, my riding of Mississauga Centre is home to many Ukrainian Canadians who, through their hard work, strong work ethic, dedication and commitment, have contributed to the cultural, social and economic fabric of Ontario. Ontario would not be the same without the entrepreneurs like the Horodynsky family, athletes like Wayne Gretzky or Tyler Bozak, or politicians like Ernie Eves.

Mississauga is home to over 30,000 Ukrainian Canadians, and we are proud to welcome several dozens of new families every week. Whether it is St. Mary’s Catholic church, the Mississauga Ukrainian Festival, the Barvinok dance ensemble, St. Sofia school, the UCC, or Business Woman PRO Canada, Mississauga has many flagship organizations ensuring the celebration and preservation of Ukrainian heritage and culture.

I was happy to recently welcome Minister McNaughton to Mississauga for a fruitful round-table discussion with newcomer families. We discussed our firm commitment to support newcomers from Ukraine with access to education, health care and other vital services.

I would also like to take a moment to thank my campaign volunteers of Ukrainian heritage: Natalya Halich, Svitlana Yanchynska, Nadiya Yashan, Liliya, Maryszka, Vira and Viktoria. And I would like to wish them a meaningful and commemorative Ukrainian Independence Day. Slava Ukraini.

Today, I rise to celebrate the teamwork and athletic achievement of the Barrie Bombers lacrosse team.

The girls from the Barrie Bombers 15U division are the first Barrie team to win an “A” provincial championship. All the players showed tremendous sportsmanship, from Alexis Brubacher, Kelsey Brubacher, Alyssa Glass, Amelia Zealand, Annika Crouter, Carleigh Hill, Emma Coughlin, Jorja Whalen, Kady Shelswell, Kylie Kumm, Morgan Lowe, Nadia White, Ryley Black, Teagan Setterfield, Willow Davidson and Zoey Maseko.

But there is more to celebrate for Barrie minor lacrosse, as the players from Barrie helped Team Ontario bring home the gold for 14U girls and 12U boys lacrosse. Four members of the Barrie Bombers representing team Ontario 14U girls helped the team win the gold medal national championship game, with a 5-2 win over host British Columbia. Barrie families were cheering on Morgan Lowe, Willow Davidson, Ryley Black and Jorja Whalen as they helped bring gold home for Ontario. This win was followed by the Team Ontario squad wining the 12U national league championship game, where Sebastian Danelon of the Barrie Bombers played on the team to help bring Ontario to victory.

Congratulations to the players, coaches and families.

It’s great to be back at Queen’s Park, and I want to start by thanking the constituents of Markham–Unionville for re-electing me and giving me the honour to serve them. I also want to thank my family, campaign team, donors and volunteers for their endless support and encouragement.

Mr. Speaker, it has been an eventful summer. To kick off the season, I hosted an open house at my constituency office, the first in-person event since the pandemic. It was great catching up with my constituents and listening to their thoughts on how Markham–Unionville can continue to grow as a riding.

I’ve also attended many events organized by our vibrant senior community, including the Unionville Home Society’s Seniors’ Month barbecue and the Paradise Seniors Association’s 2022 Summer Dream event. In addition to that, I participated in local celebrations, including the 20th annual Night it Up! Night Market and the 45th anniversary of Apple Creek Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all the organizers for inviting me to participate in their celebrations. I look forward to celebrating more accomplishments, milestones and upcoming events.

And to my constituents watching, I will continue to work tirelessly to serve and be your voice at Queen’s Park. Together, let’s get it done. Thank you.

It gives me great pleasure to recognize two outstanding organizations from the riding of Durham that are 2022 recipients of the Ontario Trillium grant.

Last month, the Tyrone Community Centre was awarded $10,700 for much-needed improvements and expansion of community programs. And the Clarington Swim Club was awarded $32,800. This will be utilized to expand the club’s membership, program enhancement and club facilities.

Speaker, the Tyrone Community Centre and the Clarington Swim Club are just two of 279 organizations across the province receiving these important grants that our government is providing. I am proud that our government is supporting multiple applications to the Ontario Trillium grant program. I strongly believe that many organizations like the Tyrone Community Centre and the Clarington Swim Club enrich the lives of people in the riding of Durham while playing an important role in enhancing community spirit.

As the MPP for the great riding of Durham, I congratulate these organizations for their well-deserved honour and for providing excellent programs and services to the residents of Durham and the great province of Ontario.

I’m pleased to rise today to recognize and celebrate an important milestone in my riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock, the 150th annual Kinmount Fair. Founded in 1872, the Kinmount Fair takes place every Labour Day weekend in the village of Kinmount. After two years, our loyal fairgoers will return to enjoy agriculture shows, horse pulls, live entertainment, the Conklin midway, a demo derby, tractor pulls, parades and more in what can only be described as the Brigadoon of Kinmount.

My family has been a part of the Kinmount Fair board for six generations, and my brother is the current president and author of a book on the story of the fair. I also have many memories of competing in horse shows, exhibiting in the exhibit hall and, when I turned 12 years old, being a junior fair director. I look forward to the unveiling of a 24-foot mural depicting 150 years of the fair and a fair film festival.

The Kinmount Fair has hosted events such as oxen pulls; fishing derbies; airshows; strongman, lumberjack and chainsaw competitions; as well a few unusual acts my dad recruited, including a mudwrestling team in 1985. The Tommy Hunter Show even filmed a special episode live for the 100th anniversary of the fair in 1972.

Every year there’s always something new to experience, and I hope to see some of you at the 150th Kinmount Fair because I’ll be there.

I just want to take this time this morning to mention some gatherings that we have been enjoying across Kiiwetinoong this summer. They include: the Sioux Lookout Blueberry Festival, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year; the Red Lake Norseman festival; the Trout Forest Music Festival in Ear Falls; the Kingfisher Lake annual summer festival; Muskrat Dam family days; the Wunnumin Lake Warriors volleyball tournament; the annual Kingfisher Lake volleyball tournament; the Casey Tait Memorial Klik Cup tournament; the Wunnumin Lake summer festival; Neebin Odaminowin Summer Festival in Webequie; the Neskantaga traditional gathering; as well as powwows in Lac Seul, Grassy Narrows and, this weekend, in Mishkeegogamang.

These festivals are a celebration of community, of who we are, and the values that we have. These happen as a result of the planning and the hard work of many volunteers who create these events for us to gather.

I’d like to acknowledge and thank the volunteers and organizers for all the hours they work to continue making these events happen. These events are so important, as they allow us to show off our communities, but, most importantly, to have fun with our friends and families. Meegwetch.

Last week, the Minister of Health finally admitted what the people of Don Valley East have been saying for months, that the status quo in health care is unacceptable. What my constituents have meant is that ER wait times, when ERs are accessible at all, are unacceptable. Not having a family physician for 15% of us is unacceptable. And because of this government, there are too many foreign-trained health care workers in my riding who are not getting credentialed. This is unacceptable.

Now, the status quo that the Minister of Health opposes is our publicly funded, not-for-profit health care system. Though she asserts that Ontarians will be able to access health care with their OHIP card, make no mistake, the plan for private, for-profit delivery of health care will harm the people of this province.

We have already seen the harms from for-profit long-term-care homes in Ontario that had significantly higher mortality than not-for-profit. We have learned the harms from for-profit outsourcing of public health care in the United Kingdom, which led to significant preventable mortality, and we have learned the harms from for-profit dialysis centres in the United States. We have learned the harms from all around the world, as reported in Scotland, Australia, Italy, Ireland and even the World Health Organization.

The lesson in all of this is consistent and clear: Health care must always be about patients first and not profits.

After two long years of waiting out the pandemic, the fall fairs in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook are back to welcoming visitors this year. For decades, the Binbrook, Ancaster and Rockton World’s Fair have showcased the incredible work done by the agricultural community, whether it’s growing crops or tending livestock or processing food on their farms.

The first is the Binbrook Fair, which opens September 16 and runs through the weekend. Binbrook is followed by the Ancaster Fair on September 22 through to the 25th. The Ancaster Fair is celebrating its 172nd season this year. It’s one of the oldest fairs in Ontario. The Ancaster Fair is a huge draw, attracting thousands of visitors from across the Golden Horseshoe. And then, there’s the Rockton World’s Fair on Thanksgiving weekend: a fair that has been running since 1852.

All the fairs are promising a full program this year, including exhibits, livestock competitions, horse pulls, dairy shows and, of course, traditional food and fun at the midway.

When my children were younger, I would take them to the fair and watch their eyes light up as they got close to the farm animals. This year I get to take my grandson. It’s important for city kids and adults to see what the people who work in agriculture do. One of the most enjoyable aspects of fall fairs is that they take us back to a much simpler time.

Mr. Speaker, this is a time to celebrate Ontario’s farmers. They are the people who keep food on our tables, and for that, I sincerely say, thank you.

I’d like to welcome our member of federal Parliament, Eric Duncan, from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry. He’s travelled here today to see us in question period.

I understand there is a point of order. The member for Nickel Belt.

I’d like to welcome some very special guests this morning: all the way from Poland, my godmother Kasia, her daughters Ola and Gabi; from British Columbia, my brother Jakub with his girlfriend Carlie; and, of course, endearingly known by our caucus as the perogy queen, my mom Anna Kusendova. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Meegwetch. It’s not every day that we get to see people from the riding of Kiiwetinoong because it’s just so vast, but I’d like to welcome Chris Moonias from Neskantaga First Nation. Meegwetch, say hello.

My question is to the Minister of Long-Term Care. The government is now going to move people from hospitals to nursing homes that they do not want to go to. If they refuse to go, will they be billed for their hospital bed?

Can the minister guarantee right now that if a senior refuses to go to a care home they don’t want, they will never be billed for their hospital bed?

Why does this government believe it’s okay for health care to come with a bill?

It’s a great honour to welcome and introduce Garrett Hein from my office for the first time at Queen’s Park.

I only want to highlight one comment from Allan O’Dette from the Ontario Medical Association: The OMA “supports the initiatives announced today by the government....

“Strengthening collaboration with government, doctors and other health care stakeholders is critical to resolving the unprecedented pressures on Ontario’s health care system.”

No one group can do this alone, Speaker. We must do this together.

Our five-point plan does that. We are working with our partners to make sure that all capacity within our health care system is there when people need it, where they need it.