Deputy Premier and Minister of Health to reply.

Speaker, I’m not sure if the member opposite has read the news article that says, “Ontario had the highest percentage of people with a regular health care provider at 90.6%, suggesting better health care accessibility.” That, of course, came out of Health Matrix today.

We can do more and we are doing more, whether it is directing the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the College of Nurses of Ontario to quickly expedite, review and ultimately license nurses and doctors who are internationally trained and want to practise in the province of Ontario, or whether, of course, it is expanding the number of residency positions that are available in every single Ontario health care system schooling. We have made those investments; we continue to make those investments.

We have a plan and it is working, and I wish the member opposite would share some of that with her colleagues so that when these investments come forward in fall economic statements or budgets, you actually support those investments instead of—

We are seeing individuals who want to practise, who want to train, who want to work in the province of Ontario continuously adding to our health human resources, whether it’s in our education, through our colleges and universities, or a higher percentage of individuals, internationally trained, who are actually practising in the province of Ontario.

I have no intention of removing a tool that has been a very important tool for hospitals, for long-term care and for home and community care to make sure that they have the staff that they need to appropriately serve the people of Ontario.

Today I have a petition entitled “Health Care: Not for Sale.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Ford and Health Minister Jones say they’re planning to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals, making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining, and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—10 employer-paid sick days;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature and give it to page Ananya to take to the Clerks.

The petition is entitled “Let’s Fix the Northern Health Travel Grant.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas people in the north are not getting the same access to health care because of the high cost of travel and accommodations;

“Whereas by refusing to raise the Northern Health Travel Grant (NHTG) rates, the Ford government is putting a massive burden on northern Ontarians who are already struggling with inflation and price gouging;

“Whereas gas prices continue to rise above $2 a litre in many parts of northern Ontario;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to strike a committee with a mandate to fix and improve the NHTG;

“This NHTG advisory committee would bring together health care providers in the north, as well as recipients of the ... grant to make recommendations to the Minister of Health that would improve access to health care in northern Ontario through reimbursement of travel costs.”

I agree with this petition, will affix my signature and hand it to Sachkaur.

I’m so proud to be part of the government that, since day one, when we were elected back in 2018, started the hard work that takes vision and leadership to transform our health care system. We started with The People’s Health Care Act, Bill 74, in 2019, and I don’t think there’s been a single session that we have not debated and passed a health care-related bill. Probably if we were to check the record, the opposition voted no to every single one of our health care bills. Talk is cheap and real action and real leadership need bills to be debated and put forward.

I know that the member has done some incredible work in putting forward a private member’s bill talking to seniors to recognize June as Seniors Month in Ontario. What have the seniors told us in those tables that you’ve had? What do they want to see from this government on home care?

I’d like to thank the member from Mushkegowuk–James Bay for his excellent presentation. I think every time this government turns their eye to a different part of health care, the province of Ontario shudders—workers and the people receiving the care—while people who make a profit off of health care in Ontario are very excited about it.

Before the pandemic, this government cut inspections to long-term care. During the pandemic, they passed legislation to protect the worst of the worst long-term-care operators, and they even passed legislation to protect themselves from legal liability—not something that generally happens when people are honest and upright.

They claim to respect seniors, and they claim to respect health care workers. My question to the member: Is this bill truly about care when there’s no way to prevent companies from overcharging and there are no consequences for providers who fail to meet service agreements?

My question is to the member from Don Valley East. I know that member was not here under the previous Liberal government, and I wasn’t here in this place either. I find it rich, coming from the member opposite, talking about everything our government is doing for health care, when they did for 15 years—absolutely nothing. When they tried to reform home care, it was a bullet point in a press release.

Speaker, as was mentioned in the news release, the goal of this legislation is to create integrated service organizations with home care—the Ontario health teams, which have been well-received by stakeholders in the province.

I want to provide one more quote from a website, and it’s a bullet point: “Promote coordinated care by establishing an integrated model for continuity of care.” That bullet point is from Bonnie Crombie’s leadership website—who this member endorsed.

Will he support this bill?