SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
October 16, 2023 10:15AM

Well, I would respectfully say, absolutely, we are expanding the health care workforce. Does the member opposite, who voted against the Learn and Stay program that actually ensures we pay tuition and books for health care workers who are being trained in the province of Ontario—to then use that and practise in areas of highest need—that is the question. As we build our health care workforce, is the member opposite for or against that? Because her voting record would suggest that she is against that.

We need to make sure that we expand the program. The member opposite’s suggestion would actually lead to a shrinking of home care providers and home care access in the province of Ontario. I can’t believe there is anyone in this chamber who believes that we need to shrink home care in the province of Ontario. We need to expand it, which is exactly what we’re doing with this legislation.

The back-office support will be a key piece of this legislation to allow organizations that wish to provide in community the ability to do that and make it consistent, so that we don’t have these examples of “in Ottawa, I get three hours; in Orangeville, I get an hour.” That piece will be able to be consistent when we bring it together under one organization.

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One of the things that you can tell Cindy is, in fact, we’ve done the work on stabilizing the health care workforce. It is absolutely important that whether that PSW is working in a hospital setting or in a home care setting or in a long-term-care home, there is a much more consistent approach in terms of remuneration. We’ve done that, and that has been very welcomed in the sector.

But if we want to talk about affordability, perhaps the member opposite could explain to her constituent Cindy why she supported the carbon tax, in fact making her job that much more expensive as she moves using a vehicle, moving from patient’s to patient’s home. Those are the types of affordability pieces that the member opposite and the party opposite don’t want to talk about. There is a cause and effect when you support the carbon tax that was put on by the federal government, which we oppose, and now we’re seeing the outcome, which is, of course, higher tax, higher inflation.

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