I had the chance to listen to the minister this morning talk about her plan to stay open in Ontario, in our health care system. While—

Interjections.

While the thousand beds of isolation opening up are welcome, they are months late. Forcing residents to go to a place outside of their community seems cruel. It really doesn’t reflect the lessons we learned in the pandemic, in long-term care.

The thing that’s most concerning is the minister’s refusal to rule out private, for-profit care—increasing that in our system. Some 25 years ago in this province, a government of the day told us that was our only solution for long-term care. We have all seen the results of that in the pandemic.

This government seems to be set on establishing separate, parallel systems—private, for-profit.

Here’s the challenge: The greatest challenge that exists right now in our health care system is people—having enough people to care for the people we care for most.

Our public system is in crisis, and what this government is proposing is—they are proposing to set up another parallel system that is going to compete for those personnel, to make a profit.

What this government needs to do is to repeal Bill 124, get serious about foreign-trained health care professionals, and actually talk to front-line workers.

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.

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?

I don’t think the minister actually understands what’s happening with her own program.

There were 6,000 letters sent out, but there have only been 30 children actually enrolled into the program. They have hardly no uptake when it comes to the letters, and they have no idea why. Ask the government; they have no idea why this is happening. When you talk to families—they have zero trust in this family. There are letters that were sent out in the 6,000 that are now seven years old, from the time the program started. Those kids are now—some of them are 17 years old. Of course, there’s no uptake for the program.

The government needs to actually understand what they’re doing.

And if you think that this is a one-time spinoff of your government asking for this $20,000 back, then you really must be completely out of touch. This is obviously a systemic issue within the program.

This minister needs to understand her file, ensure that families are not being clawed back for their government’s failure of providing an OAP program and for a global pandemic that is not the fault of a child. Make sure that the child receives—

This is a petition entitled “Paid Sick Days for All Ontarians.

“Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas paid sick days save lives;

“Whereas all Ontarians should have the right to recover from illness or attend to personal emergencies without the loss of income;

“Whereas the Employment Standards Act does not provide access to permanent paid sick days for the approximate 60% of Ontario workers without them;

“Whereas the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shown that paid sick days are vital to stopping the spread of contagious illnesses and avoiding economically disruptive lockdowns or business closures;

“Whereas multiple studies have shown the cost benefit for employers to provide an adequate paid sick day program for their employees;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to provide all Ontario workers 10 permanent paid sick days, with an additional 14 during an infectious disease emergency.”

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I’ll affix my signature and will hand it over to Natalie.