Thank to the member opposite. Welcome to your new role as a parliamentarian.

Imagine, Speaker, if we hadn’t had a government for years ago who had invested in making sure that we have 3,500 new hospital beds operating in the province of Ontario. Imagine, Speaker, if we hadn’t taken the time to ensure and expand so that we have 10,500 new health care resource people working in community, in hospital, in long-term care. I worry about that. Imagine if we hadn’t had a Premier who had the foresight to say, “We are going to make sure we have the capacity in the province of Ontario to make sure that for any pandemic, any future issues, we have capacity within our health care system.” We have that, and we will continue to work forward with that.

Our government appreciates this, understands it and acknowledges it, which is why we gave SickKids a 4.3% increase to their base operating, which equates to $22 million. We’re going to work with SickKids. We want to make sure that that world-class reputation that we are all so proud of as Ontarians and Canadians continues to be able to offer their expertise to the world.

I’m very proud, on behalf of the NDP, to bring forward, for the third time, the Stay Home If You Are Sick Act—legislation that provides all Ontario workers with the paid sick days they need and deserve, not just during the COVID-19 pandemic, but on a permanent, ongoing basis.

The bill requires employers to provide 10 days of paid personal emergency leave that can be used for illness, injury and urgent matters, including caring for family members, and also prohibits requirements for a doctor’s note. It gives Ontario workers access to 14 paid infectious disease emergency leave days, an increase from the paltry three that are currently available to cover workers affected by a pandemic now in its third year.

Finally, the bill includes a temporary program of financial assistance to help struggling small businesses in the transition to providing paid leave.

Mr. Blais moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 5, An Act to amend various statutes with respect to workplace violence and harassment policies in codes of conduct for councillors and members of local boards / Projet de loi 5, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne les politiques en matière de violence et de harcèlement au travail prévues dans les codes de déontologie des conseillers et des membres des conseils locaux.

Back to health care: That’s what we care about on this side of the House.

In Niagara and across this province—a question to the Minister of Health—health care workers are making immense sacrifices: postponing vacations, taking extra shifts and losing the time off they need to recover from the gruelling work they’ve been doing since the pandemic began. All the while, the Premier and Minister of Health have been missing in action on summer vacation.

Our Niagara hospitals are so close to the breaking point that our local mayors and regional chair had to release a joint letter to the public asking residents to avoid the ER or risk stressing the system beyond capacity.

Will the minister admit that it is her absence and the absence of her government that is the problem, not workers who are being asked to work through their vacation?