I’d like to welcome Fraser Passmore to the Legislature. Fraser is a kind person who I had the pleasure of working with in my riding of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas and can always be counted on to protect birds and rescue cats. Welcome to your House.

I would like to introduce Dr. Hava Starkman, Dr. Mary Boulos, Dr. Nour Bakhache and Liz Thompson from Cover ContraceptiON. Welcome to Queen’s Park today.

Please welcome members of the Ontario Dairy Council with us today, and a reminder that there is a reception in rooms 228 and 230 immediately after question period. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like, this morning, to welcome a constituent of mine who I was pleased to see when I walked in, Albert Borgo, from Quality Cheese. He’s the vice-president, making cheese with Ontario milk and having it sold and distributed throughout the province of Ontario. Welcome to your House.

We haven’t had an opportunity to see her here in the Legislature over the last while, but I did hear Barbara Stevens—Barbara, it’s good to see you on TV. Thanks for tuning in today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Youth Without Shelter to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Joining us here today are board members, directors, staff, as well as some of the youth who are visiting us from the shelter: Emily Reign, Jacob Messam and Don Martins Obioha. Welcome to the House. I look forward to seeing you after question period.

I also see my chief of staff, Alexandra Hoene, and my manager of stakeholder relations, Shaida Maleki.

On behalf of the official opposition, I’d also like to welcome the Ontario Dairy Council here today. Ontario dairy farmers produce the best milk in the world, and without the people who process them to make the best products in the world, we wouldn’t have the industry we have.

I would like to welcome Monsieur Antoine and Madame Danielle Mital and all the students visiting from l’École élémentaire catholique du Sacré-Coeur. Bienvenue au parc de la Reine. Welcome.

I’m delighted to congratulate Vedant Ravilla from Oakville North–Burlington who is page captain today, and welcome his parents and family: Damodar Ravilla, Lakshmi Kanderi, Kishanth Ravilla and Bhanunathi Kanderi. Welcome.

I’m pleased to welcome a number of members of the Ontario craft wineries who are here today: Norm Beal, Len Pennachetti, Paul Speck, Del Rollo and Erin Mitchell, as well as inviting all members to an important reception this afternoon at 5 o’clock in rooms 228 and 230. I look forward to seeing you there.

I see in the galleries Parkdale–High Park page Lindsay Matheson’s family: her father, brother, sister and grandma. Welcome.

I’d like to recognize a friend and colleague, Toronto city councillor, James Pasternak. Nice to see you, Chainsaw Jimmy.

I’d like to recognize the staff and board members of Youth Without Shelter and Helix House in University–Rosedale. They include Kim Wright, Anastasia Kemp, Emily Reign, Jacob Messam and Don Martins. Welcome to the House.

Four special guests—one was just mentioned now—but my best man, Jaspal Singh, and his daughter Sophie are visiting me.

As well, of course, Councillor Pasternak, I think the members from Thornhill and Eglinton–Lawrence will agree is one of our favourite councillors, as well as Jenya Drazman, his outreach coordinator for the constituency. Welcome to the Legislature.

I want to wish all members in this assembly, particularly the female members, a happy International Women’s Day and I want to stand here to recognize the talented women, not only who sit in this assembly, but the talented women who are behind the male members of this assembly, as well as the non-binary members of this assembly.

This Parliament finally boasts what I would consider the most diverse and the most equitable that we’ve ever seen. We still have a lot more to do, but we should celebrate where we have come. And I can say that, Speaker, because this month I will celebrate 17 years in this assembly and my daughter this Sunday turns 18. Through her eyes, I have watched this assembly grow. Through all of you, I have been able to see some of the great changes.

In fact, during the first months of my tenure here at Queen’s Park, when she was just an infant, we fought to make sure that there were change tables in the bathrooms and that we had seats for children in the restaurant. I remember her creating a security incident here because Christina Blizzard taught her that there were ghosts in the assembly and she took all of the other children and hid off in the library with them, causing a lot of parents from Nepean to be quite alarmed for the safety of their children. They were safe, and the ghosts didn’t turn out.

She once asked me if Garfield Dunlop ate peanut butter and jam sandwiches, to which I said, “I don’t know.” She said, “But does Bob Bailey?” I said, “I can guarantee: Yes.”

She has been a page on this floor. She learned to walk on the third floor of the assembly. She once had a very long and lengthy political debate with Steve Clark about whether or not Justin Bieber’s song was Never Say Never or Always Say Always. She blamed me in 2020 on her birthday for cancelling her hockey tournament when I was Minister of Sport—it apparently coincided with a global pandemic.

And she has seen me work with nine leaders of the official opposition, four different Speakers—but I’m sure she was your first; she liked you the most, I’m sure. She has seen three Premiers and six elections. And through all of that, she has become an amazing young woman and on Sunday, my little girl Victoria Varner turns 18. She’s not in the assembly with us today, but I wanted to say thank you to her for standing by me as a remarkable young woman on this International Women’s Day. Through her, I see progress and I see growth.

I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 40(e), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to respond to the ministerial statement this afternoon on International Women’s Day.

I am seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), the independent members be permitted to share the five minutes allotted to a single member for the debate on private member’s public bill M62, standing in the name of the member for Haldimand–Norfolk.

I won’t, because the numbers in fact show that since 2018 we have increased health funding in the province of Ontario by $14 billion.

The Financial Accountability Officer is actually showing that the status quo doesn’t work and cannot work into the future. Imagine for a minute, Speaker, if we had a Liberal government—or an NDP government when they were in power—that decided not to close residency spots. In the case of the Liberal government, over 50 new physicians would be practising in the province of Ontario if they hadn’t made that decision in 2015.

We are making the investments. We are making those increases and I am incredibly proud of the work that we’ve been able to do in a very short period of time: 3,500 new hospital beds in the province of Ontario since we took power. Those beds are serving people safely, with caring and compassionate staff that will continue to be there when we need them.

We committed as a government to make sure that we were pre-pandemic for surgeries by the end of March. Because of health care workers and hospitals stepping up and making those investments, we actually achieved that goal earlier this month.

I am incredibly proud of the 50 new hospital builds, expansions and renovations that are happening right now in the province of Ontario. In Niagara, in Hamilton, in Ottawa, in Mississauga, we’re making those investments because we absolutely understand that we need to be prepared for a population that continues to grow in the province of Ontario, and an aging population.

We have invested and we will continue to invest because we want people to have access to those diagnostic opportunities and those surgical clinics in community. When we make those investments, we see hospitals and hospital workers stepping up and doing the right thing. And I have to highlight and congratulate Bluewater Health in Sarnia–Lambton: 10 new hospital specialist doctors are starting at Bluewater Health, and that’s the kind of investment where we see we are actually making a difference on the ground and in community.

Good morning, Speaker. Happy International Women’s Day.

Another day, another report showing this government’s complete failure to address Ontario’s health care needs. At nearly every turn, this government chose not to help Ontarians when they needed it most.

Today’s report from the independent Financial Accountability Office shows that this government could have kept people—107,000 people—from waiting in pain. They could have protected our loved ones in long-term care. They could have kept emergency rooms open for when people so desperately needed them—and, Speaker, there were 145 unplanned emergency room closures last year. This government chose not to.

Speaker, to the Premier: Will the Premier admit his government underfunded health care as an excuse to sell it off?

Interjections.

So my question to the Premier, again, is, will this government abandon their plans to divert public dollars away from our hospitals and into the hands of private shareholders?

The Conservatives can say that nobody is going to have to pay for health care. They’re praying that their plan is going to work, but this report tells a different story—and they have a terrible track record, Speaker. Why should anybody trust them? Because after all, this is the same government that said they’d never carve up the greenbelt. They said there was going to be no crisis in health care and that they’d never privatize it.

The people of this province deserve a government they can trust to put their needs first. The facts in this report speak for themselves. Speaker, to the Premier, will this government put patients ahead of profits?

Interjections.

I want to wish everyone in this House, especially the women, a happy International Women’s Day again, and I am reflecting on how far women and gender-diverse people have come and how far we have to go.

Nurses and personal support workers have been lauded by the government for their heroism. They hold up our health care system, they take care of our loved ones and they’re predominantly women. But this government is fighting them in court over the right to suppress their wages—shameful.

My question to the Premier is, will he drop his wasteful appeal of his government’s legislated wage gap, Bill 124?

I want to absolutely thank the incredible work that our health care heroes are doing across this province and all the work that they have done throughout this pandemic into today. That is why, as a province, we launched the largest health human resources recruiting and training program ever by any government, Mr. Speaker. That is why nearly 12,000 nurses were registered last year, a record high for any province, for this province. And that is why we have continued to make historic investments into ensuring that our health care human resources, our health care workers are supported by this government.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, the members opposite have voted against each and every single one of those measures. We will continue to do whatever we can to support health care workers across Ontario.