I want to address in my statement today the comments that the Minister of Health made yesterday. Given the context that the Ontario Medical Association has reported that 22 million patient services were cancelled during the pandemic, of which 10 million were surgeries or cancer screening procedures, we were genuinely shocked that the government did not address the urgency of the medical and hospital crisis that’s playing itself out in Ontario hospitals.

Yesterday, the Ontario health minister said that she is not ruling out privatization as the government looks at ways to deal with this major issue. What is shocking, though, is that the Minister of Health has said that she is looking at innovative opportunities to address this health crisis.

We have a recommendation. Do you know what is innovative? Do you know what is creative? When you actually invest in public health care. And when you repeal Bill 124, you won’t see the mass exodus of health care professionals from this field.

We’re very concerned about the direction and the language that the Minister of Health is using. We are truly committed to strengthening the public health care system. In fact, it has created this narrative in the health care field—is this privatization by design or by neglect? Are you choosing to not invest in health care so that the private sector can move in? This is our concern, and we share that concern with the rest of this province.

Thank you for the question.

Allow me to clarify, or to repeat what I said yesterday, which was, in Ontario, you use your OHIP card to access health care services in the province of Ontario, and that will continue.

What I referenced yesterday was innovation. We should not be afraid of innovation. We do it very well in the province of Ontario, and we will continue to work with our partners to make sure that that innovation is encouraged and can continue.

There are many examples of innovation that are happening in the province today that we want to expand, not the least of which are examples with OHN—Ontario hospital network, SickKids and many others, which I’m happy to highlight if the member opposite is not aware of that innovation that is happening in the province of Ontario today.

Welcome to the member opposite in her new role as a parliamentarian.

There is no doubt that staffing challenges impact patient care. That is why we have been working proactively to make sure that where we need those services, we have them. We’ve worked with Ontario Health to, for example, ensure that if an emergency department is at risk of closure, physicians who are prepared and willing to travel to other jurisdictions have that opportunity. They may travel for a couple of hours to go to a hospital network that they’re not traditionally tied in to. We’ve done that work. We need to do more of it, of course, but I want to reinforce that we have done a lot already. We have 10,500 new health care professionals working in the province of Ontario that we did not have without the innovation and the proactive approach that we have taken as a government.

We understand that there are many challenges that have happened as a result of individuals who could not access their primary care practitioner, who didn’t have the ability to get that diagnostic imaging. We have now essentially eliminated the imaging backlog that we’ve had and the diagnostic piece. We’re working very well with our health care partners to make sure that we focus as equally on the surgery backlog. That work will continue. But in the meantime, I think it’s really important for people to understand that a lot of this work happened because we understood we needed the capacity in the province of Ontario to be able to stay open and to continue to serve the people of Ontario.

We’ll continue that work. We are working with the colleges to make sure that they expedite those reviews and ultimately licensures, and we’ll continue that work.

But it’s not an individual piece. That’s why we’ve expanded the residency. That’s why we have expanded the number of students who are being trained. That’s why we’ve encouraged the colleges to expedite those licences.

My question is to the Minister of Health.

Chris Hodgins lives in London West and had to take his 84-year-old mother to University Hospital ER for severe hip pain. She waited 16½ hours before being seen and then waited two hours more in the treatment room. Another patient with acute appendicitis waited five hours longer than Chris’s mother.

Speaker, how many hours will Londoners have to wait before this government finally acknowledges that our health care system is in crisis? Or does the entire ER have to shut down?

Like many Londoners, a constituent told me that she and her husband have been unable to find a new family doctor. After being turned away from overwhelmed walk-in clinics, they felt they had no other option than to pay to join a private medical service in order to access basic medical care. They have the means to pay but feel that this is fundamentally wrong.

Why is this government more interested in promoting privatized two-tier health care than in making the urgent investments that our public health care system and our exhausted health care workers so desperately need?

My question is to the Minister of Health.

Critically sick patients had to be transferred out of Bowmanville Hospital when Lakeridge Health had to make the unimaginable decision to close the intensive care unit there because of a staffing shortage.

Shelly, an ICU nurse who worked at Bowmanville, stood on the lawn of Queen’s Park and bravely told us what it was like to watch fellow co-workers make the difficult decision to leave the bedside in a health care system where nurses cannot take it any longer.

Bill 124 has unfairly suppressed wages, and exhausted nurses feel devalued, underappreciated and disrespected—and this after two years of COVID. We need the Bowmanville ICU to reopen.

How will this Premier ensure nurses can stay and ICUs can stay open?

I’ve said many times, it is concerning, deeply disturbing when an emergency room department or another department in a hospital must transfer patients. The Bowmanville four-bed ICU was, of course, one such example. We don’t want that to happen, which is why we have been investing in our health care system, including $3.3 billion, bringing the total annual investment in hospitals to over $8.8 billion in the province of Ontario.

Specifically related to acute and post-acute, we’ve made a historic investment of $1.5 billion to support the continuation of 3,500 acute and post-acute beds opening during the pandemic. Those beds will continue because we understand our population is growing. That’s why we are making these investments in new hospitals in Ottawa, in Brampton, in Niagara. We’re doing these investments because we understand the people of Ontario deserve no less.

I have to say that when I hear the member opposite talk about limiting opportunities, it concerns me greatly. We have a hospital system that has worked very well with their nurses’ associations, with their medical associations, to make sure that all opportunities are explored to make sure that they have the appropriate coverage in their departments in their areas. We need to continue that work.

We have—as I’ve said many times—already expanded by 10,500 more health care workers working in the province of Ontario, including 6,700 to support hospitals in need. These programs support international health professionals and students, as well as redeploy medical residents and physicians to where they are needed most critically. That work will continue, and we will ensure that we have a partner in our systems.

We are thankful to our health care heroes across this province for the contributions they make.

Our record investments into health care, Mr. Speaker—let’s take a look at our record in the city of Windsor. For the first time, a government—this government—is building a new hospital in the city of Windsor. After 15 years of being neglected by the Liberal government—which the members opposite propped up—this government took action to build in cities like Windsor and Brampton that were ignored.

Unfortunately, the member opposite voted against a new hospital in Windsor.

We are going to continue to ensure that we build health care capacity across this province, whether it’s building new hospitals in Windsor, in Brampton, in Mississauga, in Niagara or across this province. We hope that the members opposite can support that plan to build Ontario.

We know that the Montfort Hospital in the Ottawa region is a critical hospital partner that will continue to operate strongly in the province of Ontario and in the Ottawa region.

Specifically regarding the ER closing: As I’ve mentioned, whether an emergency department has to close for two hours, a shift or, unfortunately, over a weekend, there are processes that are in place to avoid in all possible cases that happening. In some situations, that cannot be the case, and there is a very clear process that lays out what has to happen in terms of notifying first responders, notifying the community. And of course, the hospital continues to operate and have staff there to redirect people to nearby hospitals if and when an emergency does appear at their doors.

I will say, Speaker, that as I mentioned in my previous answer, Montfort Hospital is a very critical partner in the Ottawa region, serving the people of Ontario.

We will continue those partnerships. We will work with our partners. We are about solutions.

They can talk about the problems.

In the meantime, let’s get the job done—which is what we have been doing and what we will continue to do.