It would be my honour to lead off today’s debate. At the start of government leadoff, I want to indicate that I will be sharing my time with my two parliamentary assistants, MPP Robin Martin, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence, and MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy, the member for Newmarket–Aurora. This is the first piece of legislation that we will introduce together and I appreciate the opportunity to share some of the incredible work we’ve been able to accomplish improving access to care across Ontario. Both parliamentary assistants are strong advocates for their communities, and I’m proud of the team we lead together at the Ministry of Health.

Speaker, I would be remiss to say that this is a piece of work from individuals. It is a piece of work that is the culmination of engagement with health care practitioners, clinicians, stakeholders and indeed many, many individuals within the Ontario public service who had a part to play in making sure that your Ontario health care act is here today. I want to thank them very much for their input.

Earlier this month, our government released Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care. The plan focuses on providing people with a better health care experience by connecting them to more convenient care options closer to home, while shortening wait times for key services across the province and growing the health care workforce for years to come.

The plan lays out a broad series of initiatives under three pillars: the right care in the right place, faster access to care, and hiring more health care workers. Designed to work together and work for people, these pillars will deliver connected and convenient care in hospital emergency rooms; in community settings like pharmacies, community organizations and doctors’ offices; in long-term-care homes; and through care delivered right in their own homes. Through the Your Health plan, our government is taking action to strengthen all aspects of health care, particularly where people access it most frequently. The proposed Your Health Act, 2023, supports our efforts to do so.

To provide the right care in the right place, this bill supports the expanded role of pharmacists, enabling people to connect to care closer to home, at their local pharmacy. Expanding the role of pharmacists can save a trip to the doctor, while giving family doctors and nurse practitioners more time for appointments with people who have more serious concerns. One example of this is allowing pharmacists to prescribe medications for 13 common ailments at no extra cost to patients. We have already seen great success in this initiative, with over 40,000 Ontarians accessing this service within the month of January. Pharmacies are one of the most accessible entry points in our health care system, and I look forward to working with our partners to explore other ways we can expand this work.

If passed, the proposed legislation would also result in amendments to certain health professions acts, which would permit the making of regulations that would allow certain out-of-province registered health professionals to practise immediately in Ontario while waiting for the registration with their respective Ontario health regulatory college. With new as-of-right rules, Ontario is the first province in Canada to allow health care workers from across the country to immediately start providing care. That’s the kind of innovative solution that will help bring reinforcements to the front lines of our health care system, because a doctor from British Columbia shouldn’t face bureaucratic delays to be able to practise in Ontario. These proposed changes are another way we are looking to reduce administrative barriers and to help allow qualified professionals to work in Ontario quickly and efficiently.

Under the leadership of the Ministry of Long-Term Care, we’re also proposing amendments to the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021, to enable the making of regulations that would allow these health professionals to work in the long-term-care sector as well.

Another aspect of the proposed legislation is repealing the Independent Health Facilities Act and replacing it with new legislation: the Integrated Community Health Services Centres Act, 2023. The health care landscape has changed significantly since the enactment of the Independent Health Facilities Act in 1990. There is a need for a legislative framework that better responds to current surgical demands in a manner that is integrated with the broader health system, prioritizes safety and patient needs, and better reflects the modern health system landscape and priorities. This proposed change would support the expansion of surgical, procedural and diagnostic services in the community, which is another important part of our plan for convenient and connected care. We are reducing wait times by increasing access to surgeries and procedures such as MRI and CT scans, cataract surgeries, orthopedics, colonoscopies and endoscopies.

For over 30 years, community surgical and diagnostic centres have been partners in Ontario’s health care system. Like hospitals, community surgical and diagnostic centres are held accountable to the highest quality standards, the standards Ontarians deserve and expect across the health care system.

To further support integration, quality and funding accountability, oversight of community surgical centres will transition to Ontario Health. This improved integration into the broader health care system will allow Ontario Health to continue to track available community surgical capacity, assess regional needs and respond more quickly across the province and within regions where patient need exists. This is another way our government is making it easier for people to connect to care and access publicly funded services in more locations. And our government is clear: Ontarians will continue to use their OHIP card, not their credit card. Under Premier Ford, that will never change.

The final part of this bill is to enhance privacy obligations related to certain health administrative data through proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. These proposed amendments will benefit patients by supporting improvements to the health care system through linking de-identified data, while enhancing privacy protection, transparency and accountability for entities that collect, use and disclose government data. The Information and Privacy Commissioner, which provides oversight to ensure compliance with the proper handling of data, has collaborated in the development of our proposed approach.

Over the last several months, I have travelled across Ontario to the front lines of our health care system. I’ve had the privilege to meet and speak with many of our dedicated health care workers across Ontario. I’ve seen many examples of world-class care delivered by our exceptional health care providers.

But I have also seen that our health care system and our health care workers are under incredible pressure. And for too many people, health care is too hard to access. The status quo is not working. Ontarians deserve to be able to get care where and when they need it. This means more hospital and long-term-care beds in their communities. It means more diagnostic testing like MRIs and CT scans closer to home. And it means more skilled health care workers available to provide care.

We need to be bold, innovative and creative. We need to build on the spirit of collaboration on display across the health care sector. We need to have the courage to look to other provinces and countries, and borrow the best of what the world is already doing.

Again, we need to be clear: Insured Ontarians will always access the insured health care they need with their OHIP card, never their credit card. That is why our government announced the Your Health plan and the proposed legislation that would, if passed, support its implementation.

Through the Your Health plan, our government is continuing to prioritize making it easier for individuals and families to connect to the care they need, whether that’s by expanding access to services in our homes or community, giving people the choice to book more appointments online or take an appointment virtually, or ensuring a hospital bed is there when it’s needed. We are expanding access to services in health care settings that are close to home, such as pharmacies, or by expanding the number of community surgical and diagnostic centres. We will cut the wait times for key services like MRI and CT scans and cataract surgeries, as well as for other services such as emergency care and supports for mental health and addictions.

Our government is also moving forward with medical school expansion plans and training more nurses, adding training positions for physician assistants, allowing Canadian health care workers to come work in Ontario quicker, and adding more education spots for nurse practitioners. And our health care workers will be set up to work together as a team, making it easier for Ontarians to navigate care at every stage of their life.

Some of these changes will happen immediately as we take action to address pressing issues. Other changes will take time and will be phased in over the months and years ahead as we educate and graduate new health care workers and build new hospitals, community surgical and diagnostic centres, and long-term-care homes, while delivering care in new and innovative ways.

Over time, Ontarians will see and feel real improvements in the care they receive as we build a better health care system for the future. People will have more information and better tools to make the right decisions about their health, and it will become faster and easier for Ontarians to connect to the health services they need in their community or at home, no matter where they live.

I will now share my time with my outstanding parliamentary assistants—the member for Eglinton–Lawrence, followed by the member from Newmarket–Aurora—who will speak further to our government’s ongoing work to strengthen our health care system and provide Ontarians with more connected and convenient care.

Thank you for the question. Our government has launched the largest health care recruiting and training initiative in the province’s history. We’re building on the 12,000 new nurses registered to work in the province last year, and our government is investing in a range of initiatives to attract, train and retain more nurses and get them into the system sooner, including $342 million to add over 5,000 new and upscaled registered nurses and registered practical nurses, as well as 8,000 new personal support workers. On top of that, in October, our government announced we were breaking down registration barriers so more health care professionals trained in other provinces or internationally can practise in Ontario.

We are doing the work. We are outside the status quo. We are making the changes that are necessary in this era of time, not the 15 years of the previous government’s time, and we’re going to do what needs to be done.

Interjection.