I’ve been hearing from health care professionals in my riding of Hamilton Mountain about the devastation happening to our local hospitals. A local nurse reached out to my office to share her concerns. Her message, sadly, was not surprising. She told me that our health care system is falling apart before our very eyes. Our province has abandoned all health care workers. They are constantly short-staffed, working long hours with a high patient-to-staff ratio. Patient care is being put at risk due to this government’s lack of respect, and underfunding of our health care system. She asked me to call on this government to repeal Bill 124 to ensure health care workers are paid accordingly. Health care workers should be allowed to negotiate fair wages for their work, but Bill 124 is keeping them from doing that.

I’m calling on the Premier and his government to immediately repeal Bill 124. Health care workers have been the backbone of this pandemic. They have put themselves, their own safety, the health of their families all at risk. They deserve fair compensation for their work. The Premier needs to do the right thing and repeal Bill 124 immediately.

My question for the Premier: According to Dr. Michael Warner, the OR at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto dropped to using just two out of 10 operating rooms at 4 p.m. That’s eight operating rooms sitting empty for more than 12 hours per day.

Why is the government choosing to send surgeons, nurses and funding to private, for-profit clinics while operating rooms in our hospitals sit idle?

Why is this government refusing to use the operating room, CT and MRI capacity we already have?

Thank you to the member opposite for giving me an opportunity to highlight the announcement that we made with the Minister of Long-Term Care on Thursday. It’s a plan to stay open, health care stability and resistance: a five-point plan that talks about not only health care human resources but giving hospitals the additional investments that they need to make sure that when there are operating suites available we are funding them additionally.

We are doing programs that allow our paramedics to go into community and serve people in community. In my own community, on the weekend, I was approached by someone who said they had been using the community paramedicine program for years, and they love it. It is exactly what they need to be able to stay safely at home.

The five-point plan covers a number of areas that we know we can focus better on and ensure that we have the health care services we need, where we need them.

I only point to the Ontario Hospital Association’s comments after the Thursday announcement: The OHA “supports the strategy announced today by the government of Ontario for the fall and winter 2022-23 as it will help maintain access to health services during what is expected to be a challenging period. It is essential that all partners continue to work closely together with a ‘Team Ontario’ approach to overcome the complex, underlying issues facing the health care system. Hospitals are here to serve the people of Ontario and will continue to do everything possible to meet their health service needs.”

We will continue those partnerships.