I want to express my appreciation to the member opposite for the amazing advocacy that he shares, not only on behalf of Brant county farmers, but also ginseng growers.

In the fall of 2021, I went into that region of Ontario to visit, first-hand, ginseng growers to see how the pandemic had impacted their markets at a global level, and we were very quick to act. It was our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford and my ministry team, that came together with our ginseng growers to introduce an industry-led pilot program that ultimately led to stabilizing this particular industry.

I’m really pleased to share with you that, most recently, we participated in a trade mission to both Japan and Vietnam, and it was in Vietnam where we secured three specific ginseng MOUs. We had the Ontario Ginseng Growers Association sign an MOU with the Vietnamese Pharmaceutical Association, and we also had a local Ontario ginseng company sign additional MOUs, with business-to-business opportunities lying ahead of them.

So a bright future lies ahead for not only ginseng growers, because they have a government that stands with them and understands agricultural and market issues, but they also have a government that believes that it’s important to stand with them as we build back our markets around the world.

Thank you for the question. Obviously, events such as the science fairs and going out into the communities, into the schools, to attract our young into these professions are going to have an everlasting effect on our communities. The ability to bring these students into a love of learning and a love of the health care system is going to go a long way to address the health care crisis that we’re facing and the shortages that we’re facing.

And let’s be clear: It’s not a shortage we’re just facing here in Ontario; it’s a crisis that’s being faced across the world. That’s why we have to come up with innovative new approaches to attract these students and these children coming out of post-secondary to get into the health care field, because we’re in competition in the world. If we don’t up our game and make sure that we’re making it more attractive and better for these students to want to stay and practice in Ontario, and in particular in the underserviced areas in northern communities, we’re failing our communities and we’re failing Ontario. So these are great opportunities for us to do that. Thank you.