Unfortunately, there is no further time for questions and comments.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Thank you, Speaker. It’s great to see you in the chair this morning.

I’m happy to rise in the House today to showcase both a government of Ontario program and a happy recipient in my riding of Brantford–Brant. Through the great work of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, the Reconnect Ontario 2022 program is making an investment of more than $48 million. This program helps festival and event organizers carry out events that encourage people to travel, participate and rediscover the beauty and diversity of all that Ontario communities have to offer.

I was so pleased that the Paris Agricultural Society was successful in their application and that they were awarded $105,000 from this program a few weeks ago. The fair is constantly changing as the agricultural sector evolves, but it never strays from the commitment of over 160 years to bring entertainment and agricultural education to the community.

Agriculture is the single biggest economic sector in Brantford–Brant, and this festival funding for the great folks of the Paris Agricultural Society cannot come at a better time. Learning about agriculture, having fun, and speaking with the men and women who grow the food that is on our dining room tables day in and day out is partly what the Reconnect Ontario program is all about.

Congratulations to the Paris Agricultural Society. And between September 1 and 5, see you all at the Paris fair this year.

Today is the start of the 138th Providence Bay Agricultural Fair. This is a mainstay of Manitoulin Island that brings families from across the province for fun and entertainment.

However, there are concerns going into fair weekend this year, as Highway 542 and Highway 551 leading to Providence Bay remain in a state of disrepair. I was travelling on these highways last weekend, and I can understand why people on Manitoulin Island are frustrated with the government’s quick-fix solutions. Roads are being left in conditions where the pulverizing of the old surface is leaving large chunks of material, causing dangerous driving conditions and damage to windshields, shock absorbers and tires. This has an effect on the cycling and cyclist community as well. This level of work and road resurfacing would not be accepted in the Muskokas. Then why shove it to Manitoulin?

This government needs to step up to the plate and ensure that residents and visitors alike can safely travel on Manitoulin highways.

Speaker, Manitoulin Island is the largest freshwater island in the world. So I say, on behalf of all Haweaters, do them once, do them right, and pave our highways properly.

The arts, culture and entertainment industries are crucial in every community. They enhance our lives. They attract tourism, boost economic growth and preserve our culture and our heritage.

Earlier this year, I was privileged to witness an incredible preservation of our community heritage and growth of the arts and entertainment in my riding of Sault Ste. Marie, through an investment of $500,000, through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, into a space known as the Loft at the Algoma Conservatory of Music. The Loft is located in the attic of a building that over 100 years ago housed the offices of the historic Sault Ste. Marie Pulp and Paper Co. Although the paper mill was, unfortunately, closed in 2012, the site has been completely transformed over the last decade into a community hub. The Loft is now a huge part of that transformation. A dusty and forgotten storage area has been converted into a warm, beautiful, inviting performance venue, while preserving the heritage of a national historic site.

The Loft hosts a state-of-the-art recording studio with some of the best equipment available in the world, and it is connected to a live performance hall in the machine shop next door. This incredible innovation allows for live performances to be captured with the absolute best in sound and video capabilities. The unique possibilities of this one-stop shop for performance and recording is unparalleled.

I am so excited to see what opportunities the team at the Loft can continue to bring to the arts and entertainment industry in Sault Ste. Marie.

As of this moment, the North York General Foundation Radiothon, in partnership with A1 Chinese Radio, is holding an annual major outreach event to raise funds for a landmark new seniors’ care home at North York General Hospital. Among the first designed using insights from the pandemic, the home will be fully integrated with the hospital to provide residents with full access to emergency and specialty services. To better serve the seniors from different cultural backgrounds, the new home will be offering culturally diverse programming, resources and food.

The government is not only adding beds; it is creating long-term-care spaces for seniors in modern, safe and comfortable surroundings where they will feel truly valued and at home.

Speaker, I want to thank North York General Hospital and its leadership team for their commitment to provide the best care and experience for our community. I also want to thank all those involved in this great event. It is your participation that made Ontario a better place that we are all proud of.

Speaker, I’d first like to congratulate you on your re-election and to congratulate all our colleagues—both new and returning, on both sides of the aisle—on being elected to this House.

I’m honoured to be back for another term, representing the people of Mississauga–Lakeshore.

I’m proud of all the progress we’ve made over the last four years, especially in south Mississauga. That includes a multi-billion dollar project to build the largest and most advanced hospital in Canadian history. It includes 1,152 new long-term-care beds, more than any other riding in this province, and the first residential hospice in Mississauga. It includes the new $5-billion Hazel McCallion Line and a new rapid transit corridor along Lakeshore that will support the Lakeview Village and Brightwater communities along the lakefront. We’ve come a long way, and last week the throne speech laid out a plan to ensure the progress continues.

Earlier this week, I joined delegations from Mississauga and the region of Peel at the AMO policy conference in Ottawa, meeting with ministers, focusing on the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, our shared infrastructure priorities, and fixing the housing supply crisis.

I look forward to working together with municipal partners and with all members here to deliver positive results for the people of Ontario over the next four years.

I am proud to join this 43rd Parliament, re-elected for a third term to serve Oshawa. It is an honour and a privilege to come here and stand in my place on behalf of constituents, families and workers across my riding. I’m appreciative of the trust and hope that I bring with me from my community.

Thank you to my staff, who have been working these past eight years to support constituents with compassion and care. The load is heavy, and none of us would be able to do this work without our team.

To the volunteers who spoke to voters, knocked on thousands of doors, raised money and committed their time and heart to our bright, positive, motivating campaign: Thank you.

To my core campaign team, CFO, manager and volunteer coordinators, who put their lives on hold to work tirelessly during the election: Thank you.

To my family, friends and loved ones: I love you, and I appreciate you.

And, Speaker, I am blessed to still have my little grandma in my life. She’s 101 years old and was very proud to vote for her granddaughter.

Applause.

Speaker, all of us in this room heard sincere and heartfelt concerns during the election. We’re still hearing from distraught families and workers—letters and calls from real folks concerned about collapsing health care systems; public education; a lack of safe, affordable and available housing; rising poverty; and the terrible suffering of so many without the addictions and mental health supports they seek. We have vital and important work to do on behalf of real people who have trusted us to listen and serve them well.

I will continue to serve sincerely and be the strong voice I have now three times been elected to be.

Thank you, Oshawa.

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.

We can’t continue doing the same thing over and over and over again for 15 years that the NDP and the Liberals have done, and expecting a different result. We’re pouring billions and billions of dollars into the health care system. But guess what? The status quo is not working. They feel the status quo is fine. They’d leave everything alone. They’d end up having zero beds.

We’re building thousands and thousands of beds, Mr. Speaker. We’re going to continue focusing on fixing the health care system that they broke for 15 years.

It gives me great pleasure to rise in this chamber today to recognize an outstanding resident from my riding of Durham. Recently, my office had the pleasure to congratulate Mr. Paul Arculus from Port Perry for his 25 years of outstanding service as the president of the Lake Scugog Historical Society and the curator of the Scugog museum.

Paul and Eleanor Arculus settled their family in Cartwright township in 1970 and, for the past 52 years, established themselves as pillars of the community.

In his many roles as teacher, author and renowned storyteller, Paul has shared his love of local history with thousands of residents in working toward the preservation of historical buildings, sites and cemeteries.

Just last year, Port Perry High School renamed a scholarship the Paul Arculus bursary, which is awarded to a local student pursuing post-secondary studies in the field of history.

On behalf of all Ontarians, thank you, Paul, for celebrating our past and honouring those who were a part of building the great province of Ontario.

Speaker, my question is to the Premier.

The government is planning to force ALC patients waiting in hospitals to move to long-term-care beds far from home, without their consent. This is going to tear seniors away from their spouses, their essential caregivers, their grandchildren, and everything that’s familiar to them.

Doctors and nurses rarely need to provide medical care for ALC patients, so this won’t free up nurses or doctors. This government is sacrificing seniors to free up furniture.

Why is the government hurting seniors instead of tackling the hospital staffing crisis?

Why is the government expanding for-profit care and making the staffing crisis in our hospitals even worse?

This scheme doesn’t hire a single nurse. It doesn’t hire a single doctor. It doesn’t keep ERs open this weekend.

Will the government scrap this scheme and instead launch a plan to recruit, retain and return nurses with better pay, better working conditions and the respect that they deserve?

Our plan to safely stay open really focuses on five main points, and it speaks exactly to what we need to do, which is, we need to shore up long-term-care beds. We’ve done that by an unprecedented expansion in the province of Ontario. We need to make sure that community care is available in our homes for our loved ones when they need it, because that’s what they want. They want to be close to home. They want to be in their own home. Our five-point plan speaks to all of those pieces.

Surgical backlogs, absolutely—the COVID pandemic did not stop surgeries. What we need to do is ensure those regularly scheduled surgeries can continue, and we are giving hospitals that expanded opportunity to, in many cases, allow the surgery suites to be open for longer. We’re funding those opportunities because we see that as a way to ensure people get the care they need, when they need it, where they need it.

We will continue to work with our partners to make sure that all opportunities are explored.

We’ve done the work. Now join us and be part of the solution.

When people have the qualifications that we deserve, that we expect in the province of Ontario, there should not be a block to get those people in community. We are doing that. That work has been done.

The ongoing expansion—unprecedented. In Scarborough, in Brampton, we have two new medical schools. We’re doing the short term, we’re doing the medium term, and we’re doing the long term—because we want health care to be in the province of Ontario, wherever you live.

In the Speaker’s gallery today, we have constituents from the riding of Wellington–Halton Hills: John Mann and his daughter Samantha Mann, from Georgetown. I’m pleased to inform the House that Samantha is starting her training for the page program at the Senate of Canada next week. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

Speaker, more than a million Ontarians don’t have access to a doctor or a nurse practitioner. People are waiting for hours and hours in pain in emergency rooms, waiting for months and years for surgeries, and more than 1,400 died last year while waiting.

There are over 12,000 internationally trained doctors and thousands more internationally trained nurses in Ontario ready to help fill the gap in primary care.

Why has this government failed to remove the unfair barriers for these doctors and nurses?

Nothing the minister says actually removes the barriers that internationally educated health care workers face in this province. The government says that they’re doing everything they can to work with internationally trained doctors and nurses to address the staffing shortage in health care. And, yet, data from the CPSO shows that only 739 applicants became members in 2020, compared to the 2,074 in 2019.

My question is, why was there a decrease when we’re in the middle of the pandemic and we’re facing a health care crisis?

The practice-ready assessment program, which was standardized, that this government cancelled in 2018, is actually working very well in seven other provinces. The model could have been used to implement a similar or even improved assessment process for doctors and nurses in Ontario. We could have had thousands of health care workers added to the system in as little as 12 weeks. I want everyone in Ontario to listen: In as little as 12 weeks, we could have had more health care workers in this province.

Will this government reverse its cuts? And why is this government dragging their feet in bringing in the solutions that can save lives in Ontario?

My constituents are hearing about staffing pressures at our local hospitals, and they’re very concerned. They’re concerned that their loved ones are not going to be able to get the care they need when they need it.

Under the previous Liberal government, we saw how the health care system was neglected, how hallway health care continued to get worse year by year, with no thought or planning for the future.

When I hear the government speak about innovation in this health care sector—my constituents want to know more about what we are referring to. Is it additional supports and new solutions, ideas to address the problems we have previously faced?

Speaker, through you, can the minister please tell this House how our publicly funded hospital system is innovating to improve the patient experience?

My constituents have seen the news coverage and have personally experienced surgical delays. Going into surgery is a very difficult experience for many, but in Ontario we have the best front-line health care workers who provide support through the entire process and act with excellence.

Can the Minister of Health share with the Legislature how our government is investing in innovation to reduce wait times for my constituents and all Ontarians, giving them peace of mind and access to surgical procedures when they need them the most?

My question is to the Premier.

On July 26, a senior named Shirley, who lives in Fort Erie, had a fall in her home. Injured and alone, she pressed her Lifeline alert button. Ten minutes later, she received a call from Lifeline, who informed her that they were told she would not get an ambulance for six hours.

Workers are doing everything they can, but this government has ignored their pleas for more resources and, in fact, cut health care resources.

Is the Premier proud that, under his watch, residents who dial 911 have to wait six hours for an ambulance?

I raised this issue back in February.

To the Premier: Just days ago, the Premier said very clearly that health care was just fine. Once again, is the Premier proud that, under his watch, residents are getting taxis five hours late instead of the emergency care that this government is supposed to provide?

Also, I want to be very clear: Taxi drivers in the province of Ontario are not paramedics.

We removed the Canadian experience barrier. That ensured that people have access if they were trained in other parts or Canada or the world. We want individuals who are practised, who are educated and who want to work in health care, because we understand how important these health care workers are. We understand that if you want to work in health care—we want you to be part of the solution. And we’re doing that with our hospital partners, with our long-term-care partners, with community care, with primary care.

All of these things together mean that when people need the help they need, it will be there for them.

I get it; I know that there are still challenges and there are people who want to have a primary care physician, who have no access. But the work that we are doing with the medical schools, with the colleges, with the expansion of the residency program means that that is ongoing. We are seeing the expansion. We are seeing those numbers increase. I would love to have them go faster. But we have done the work, and we will continue to work with those partners to make sure any barriers are removed as we move forward.

There is no doubt that when we hear these stories, it only drives our motivation further to make sure that we do everything possible in all continuums.

The 911 model of care that we referenced at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference earlier this week has been embraced: community paramedicine that allows community paramedics to go into those homes, for individuals who are able, in most cases with very little support, to stay safely in their home. The municipalities that have embraced that 911 model of care have loved it. In fact, our satisfaction rate, I believe, is in the 97th percentile.

We are going to ensure that that 911 model of care is expanded further to other municipalities across Ontario, because we see it as one of the opportunities to make sure that when individuals like Shirley have a fall in their home, there is a community paramedicine program in place that can quickly assist them and get them back to their—

Community paramedicine—paramedics, in general, have been amazing partners throughout this pandemic; in many cases, assisting with vaccine rollout, ensuring that people were at home and able to be monitored safely.

Ultimately, when we see those models, we’re going to expand them. That is the innovation that we’re looking for. Those are the kinds of stories that I heard for two full days of meetings at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario. We will take those best practices and ensure that other municipalities and other communities in Ontario have access to the same opportunities.

The short answer is, all of the above. Ontario’s hospitals are leading innovation in Ontario, transforming our health care system and improving the patient experience. Let me give you just one example that you would be interested in, coming from your own community.

Our government invested over $25 million to modernize and expand the stem cell treatments at Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre at Hamilton Health Sciences. The centre is one of three world-class hospitals offering all forms of stem cell transplants to adult patients here in Ontario. With this expansion, more patients will be able to access world-class cancer treatment sooner and closer to home, and they get that treatment they need where and when they need it. That’s innovation, Speaker.

Supplementary question.