Like all Hamiltonians, Speaker, I was heartsick to learn of the massive raw sewage spill into Chedoke Creek and Cootes Paradise. Today I want to share some good news on the progress Hamiltonians are taking to restore this beloved, provincially significant wetland: Step 1 of the remediation activities has begun, with an expected dredging of 11,000 cubic metres of sediment.

Thanks to city staff for the tour of the area, and thanks for sharing your expertise and your obvious pride in playing a role to restore Chedoke Creek.

Why is this area so special? Cootes Paradise is the largest wetland at the western end of Lake Ontario. It is a magnificent example of plant biodiversity and is home to 35 endangered species. This location is also an important migratory bird stopover. One of our more famous inhabitants is our local bald eagle. The return of the endangered bald eagles to this area is a fantastic story. Catching a glimpse of them soaring over Cootes Paradise is truly a remarkable sight.

And in more good news, an incredibly rare Blanding’s turtle was released back into Cootes Paradise to join only two other Blanding’s turtles presently living in Cootes.

Hamiltonians are rightfully proud of our natural areas, and we are taking action. The city of Hamilton and community environmental partners are collaborating on the Biodiversity Action Plan. Partners include Hamilton naturalists, Environment Hamilton, the Royal Botanical Gardens. Their work will protect, enhance and restore biodiversity in Hamilton.

With great gratitude to all of you who stand up to defend our environment, I thank you.

Thank you for your debate here today. You talked about health care, and you said that your government is ready to respond to any emergency. But the people of Ontario need to know that you underspent your own health care budget by $1.8 billion. You underspent what you planned to spend, in a health care crisis.

In Hamilton, we’ve had already, to date, 200 code zero events where there is no ambulance available to respond to an emergency; that’s double the number for all of 2021, so far this year. We heard from the member from Niagara Falls, who had a constituent who called for an ambulance through Life Line, was told she had to wait six hours, only to have a taxi cab sent to her home. This is really not a situation where you’re responding to emergencies.

The health care system is in crisis. People need to be able to rely on ambulances when they have an emergency. What is your government going to do to make sure there are no more code zeroes in the province of Ontario?