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.

Well, the honourable gentleman is actually incorrect. Perhaps he didn’t have a chance to take a look at the bill, because had he looked at the bill, he would have seen, right in the explanatory note, that in fact consent will still be required. If he went a little bit further into the bill, subsection 60.1(7), he would see, again, that consent is still required.

What we’re doing, actually, is working with our acute care partners to finally be able to be in a position to address the challenges that have faced acute care for a very, very long time in this province. Long-term care is in a position to be part of that solution, and it’s in that position, ultimately, because of the investments that this government has made since coming to office in 2018.

So, again, the honourable gentleman is wrong. I’d be more than happy to send a copy of the bill over to him so that he can take a look at it for himself.

But the member’s tune has changed a little bit since Thursday, right? Because Thursday, colleagues, he was saying that people would be forcibly removed from hospital against their will, without their consent. He said that they would be moved into ward rooms across the province and hundreds of miles away from their family and friends.

Because of the investments that we have made in long-term care, that is not going to happen, and the member knows this. He knows that we will not move people without their consent. But it allows us to have a conversation. What homes might be available to a patient in a hospital who has been discharged in and around their homes of choice while they wait for their home of choice to become available? I think that’s responsible. It is part of the solution to the acute care challenge that we faced for decades, and I’m happy that long-term care can play a role.

Here is the thing: Long-term care—we can be part of the solution. It has been decades that long-term care has placed a challenge on the health care system, but because of the investments that we have made, that they have voted against, we can be part of the solution, and we will be.

In an answer to one of my colleagues earlier in question period, the Minister of Long-Term Care confirmed that no patient in hospital will be discharged into a long-term-care home against their will, and that he understands the importance of keeping someone in long-term care close to family and friends. However, the opposition are suggesting that as part of the solution to the decades-long challenges in acute care, seniors are being forced back into four-bed ward rooms. These ward rooms were singled out by the long-term-care commission as being a serious part of the problem in the initial waves of COVID-19.

Can the minister confirm if he is considering this as part of the solution, and if so, what evidence does he have that they are now safer?

The minister has stated that long-term care is able to be part of the solution. Can the minister explain what additional resources are provided to improve residents’ quality of care?