Thank you to the member for the question. It’s not going to be care close to home because the government—regardless of what they put in this bill, which is really tinkering—have not properly supported health care workers in our system. That’s the problem in our system.

In my area, it’s ridiculous to say that this is going to create care close to home because I have emergency departments shutting down hours. I have people in Port Colborne that have to drive now to Welland to find that the hospital in Welland has reduced hours, and now they have to get taken in ambulance to Niagara Falls. It’s getting worse and worse and worse. Nothing in this bill is going to make it better.

What we would do is start treating health care workers with the dignity and respect they deserve so that they stay in the system and continue to provide quality care to our constituents.

I just described what’s happening in my riding with the shutting down of emergency services, with employees that haven’t even received their pandemic pay. People are leaving for jobs in other places. That’s continuing to happen and it’s largely because of this government’s actions: Bill 124 and the way that they’ve treated workers.

They can put whatever they want in this bill to reorganize things in the health care system, but if they don’t start treating workers properly, there’s not going to be anybody there to take care of people.

I think people in Ontario are mystified. When they look at what’s happening in their own community—and we’ve heard of people from Minden and other places whose emergency departments have been shut down—and then they see $8.3 billion boondoggles, they see private spas being built, they see this lavish spending and trips to Las Vegas; and here in their community their emergency department is shutting down. Clearly something doesn’t add up there. I think people are increasingly growing frustrated and are befuddled by this government’s lack of priorities.

As MPP for London West, one of the things I hear about most from constituents is around the home care that they receive. Either they don’t get enough hours allocated; there’s a revolving door of PSWs who don’t show up; they don’t get enough notification of when the visit is going to be. I also hear from PSWs who are constantly frustrated by their inability to provide the care and support that they were trained to provide. They are underpaid, overworked and certainly very much undervalued.

We understand the problems with this government’s approach to home care. I wondered if the member could elaborate a little bit about what an NDP government would do to improve home care in Ontario.

The Convenient Care at Home Act, 2023, if passed, could consolidate the 14 home and community care service organizations into a single organization and make the service more convenient. Ontario is investing an additional $10.3 million in 2023-24 to support Ontario health teams to implement better ways to connect primary hospitals, home and community. With an investment of more than $124 million, Ontario health teams and other health service providers are also investing in digital and virtual care options for people in Ontario.

My question to the member is, if he said he’s not supporting this act, does he mean that he wants nothing from this bill to support his community? Yes or no?

Thank you to the member for the question. Look, they can put whatever they want in this bill. They can talk about a fragmented system, but if there’s nobody to work in the system, we’re not going to have health care. We can have this discussion all day long. They can talk about, you know, any kind of changes to the organization that they want to make, but they’ve treated health care workers terribly. They are coming into my office—haven’t even received pandemic pay, for goodness’ sake. They’re leaving the system, because they’re being treated badly.

So you can make whatever changes you want in this bill; if you don’t start treating workers properly, they will continue to leave and our health care system will continue to deteriorate.

She’s absolutely correct. Institutional care costs so much more than home care. It’s a real puzzle to us why this government, if they really want to save money, if they really want to provide better care, don’t provide better care in people’s homes much more cost-efficiently, rather than—

Madam Speaker, good morning. I’m proud to rise today to support Bill 135, Convenient Care at Home Act.

Before I address the bill, I just want to say that the fearmongering that’s coming from the opposition yesterday and continuing today—no wonder that some of our young people are questioning whether a career in health care is the right one. Because if you sit on that side of the House, it’s doom and gloom, but on this side of the House, we have some good news. Madam Speaker, you know what the good news is? That last year we had a record number of nursing students enrolled to become nurses in Ontario—30,000 nursing students, under the leadership of this government and this Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Under the leadership of this government, we allowed colleges to offer stand-alone baccalaureate programs such that just down the street from here, in an NDP riding, we have a francophone college for the first time that will be training French-language nurses right here in downtown Toronto. That is under the leadership of our government.

We have added 12,000 internationally trained nurses into the system, just last year. So despite what the opposition is saying, which is completely lacking of statistics, we on this side of the House have the numbers to show for it. In terms of PSWs, PSWs are our respected partners in care.

You know, when I was a nursing student, I trained with PSWs. I’ve learned from them, and even now when I deliver care, I often rely on the support from PSWs. They’re knowledgeable. They’re skilled and they’re part of our health care workforce.

Guess what, Madam Speaker? We have invested, into the accelerated program, into the training of 16,000 PSWs since we took office. That is a record number. I don’t know where that NDP math is coming from, but here on this side of the House, we have the numbers to support what we’re doing. I’m so proud to be part of this government, which is transforming the way we deliver health care in the province of Ontario.

So let’s talk about home care. Already, new models of home care delivery are being implemented to enable a more integrated experience for clients and their families, from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, to Newmarket, to the University Health Network right here in Toronto, to local Ontario health teams. But we know that there is more work to do to ensure our loved ones have access to care they deserve in their home, when they need it.

The Convenient Care at Home Act is a game-changer. This act, if passed, will mean that patients and families will see real, tangible improvements in how home care is delivered. But don’t just take my word for it.

Sandra Ketchen, president and CEO of Spectrum Health Care had this to say: “Today’s announcement is an important step in modernizing Ontario’s home care system. We look forward to continuing to work together to provide the best possible care to patients, in the comfort of their homes.”

And Matt Anderson, president and CEO of Ontario Health, said, “This ‘connected care’ approach, and the provincial investments to support it, will help transform health care delivery and support the vision of all Ontarians having full access to the care they need, across the spectrum of health care—all working together to deliver integrated care, through their Ontario health team.”

Our health system partners know that changes are needed and that the status quo is simply not working. We will continue to engage with our partners across the home care sector to support this much-needed modernization.

And our constituents, the reason we all wake up every morning and show up here at work—I wake up at 5 a.m.; I’m sure a lot of the members here do too. They are the reason why we come to this place and why we work so hard, and they have told us that we need to transform home care, to centre home care around the patient.

For example, in my riding of Mississauga Centre, I have a beautiful co-op housing—it’s called Camille’s Place. A lot of seniors live at Camille’s Place. I recently hosted a Thanksgiving lunch with the seniors, and they told me that they have concerns with how home care is delivered—PSWs do not always show up as scheduled—and that a change is needed, and that it has to be more localized in the community and more responsive to their needs. But I also heard so many positive stories, just chatting with the ladies over some turkey. They told me that their PSWs have become a part of their family. They show up day in and day out, respond to their needs, and over time they have become family members.

Again, this goes to show how indispensable the PSWs who work in our system are. They are part of our communities, and that’s why they need to be embedded locally into our Ontario health teams—instead of this fragmented approach that we are currently seeing.

It is so important to ensure our seniors have access to dignified, compassionate care as they age, close to their loved ones and community. Our seniors built our communities, our province and our country, and it is imperative that we take care of them. They have done their job; now it is time that we do ours. Our government is continuing to invest in services for our seniors as well as their families and caregivers.

I would like to speak a little bit about my private member’s bill that I introduced, together with the member from Thornhill, Bill 121, Improving Dementia Care in Ontario Act, because it is kind of related. We’re doing the hard work to support those living with dementia. A lot of those living with dementia, of course, need home care. That is why we have to have an all-government approach and all-government strategy to work with persons living with dementia, whether they are in their home, whether they are in a long-term-care facility, or whether they happen to be in the hospital. So, in the 2022 budget, the government announced a $15-million investment over three years towards Ontario’s Dementia Strategy, to expand community-based dementia services such as home care or day programs. And in 2022-23, the ministry allocated the first $5-million installment of the $15-million investment towards initiatives that reduce patient flow from hospital to a more appropriate care setting.

I had the opportunity to visit a hospital, Brantford General Hospital, where they have done something new, something innovative, something out of the box. What did they do? Well, they invited dementia care specialists into their emergency department. So any patients who are coming into the ER for only dementia-related symptoms actually get seen by these dementia care specialists. They are not admitted to the hospital, because we know that patients with dementia do not do well if they are admitted to the hospital, because it is not a place that is conducive to them getting better. So these patients are being held overnight in the ER, then they are assessed by the dementia specialist and they’re actually referred to services back into the community. What does this do?

(1) It reduces admission rates so those beds that are critically needed for critically ill patients are not occupied by patients who actually don’t have to be there.

(2) It provides better care for the patient themself and their family.

(3) It reduces the amount of cost.

So that is exactly the kind of solution that we need to look for with our partners, because the government doesn’t have all the solutions. We need to work with our partners and local communities like the Brantford General Hospital to bring forward innovative ideas to address some of the challenges that we are facing in home care.

These innovative initiatives specifically focused on expanding dementia-related admission diversion and discharge supports, such as behavioural support programs and programs delivered by Alzheimer Society of Ontario chapters. Investments in these initiatives were identified through the government’s ALC—which is alternate level of care—five-point plan.

I originally prepared a speech for 20 minutes, but since I only have 10 minutes, I will fly through some of these things. In 2023-24, the ministry expanded community-based programs through increased investment in the ASO First Link program and GeriMedRisk. The Convenient Care at Home Act builds on our work to date to ensure Ontarian seniors can remain at home if they wish. Our government is making a historic $1-billion investment into home care, which will help to stabilize and expand this vital sector for years to come.

I know I’m not the first to say this, but the only thing better than having care close to home is actually having care in your home. People don’t want to be institutionalized unless they have really complex health care needs and, at that point, they do need to move into our long-term care facilities. But it is really critical that we help expand the sector and localize it within our Ontario health teams because people prefer to stay at home. Actually, research shows that people who are at home with the right supports have a much better quality of life, and so that’s exactly the hard work that we are doing through Bill 135, the Convenient Care at Home Act.

I really wish that the opposition would get on board and finally support these initiatives because we need a whole-of-government approach, but I’m not hearing any solutions coming from that side of the House.

I think we can all agree that home care done well is what seniors want, and we certainly support that. But home care done well is not by any means going to come out of this bill. We have seen the effects of privatized long-term care brought in first by the Mike Harris government and entrenched further with this government, and with this plan we see up to 30% of tax dollars going into shareholder profits from that large amount of money.

My question is, why should taxpayers be paying for shareholders profits when that money could be going to support pay for PSWs and quality care for our seniors?

My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care.

As the needs of Ontarian’s seniors become more medically complex, the services to address those needs must be available. After years of neglect by the previous Liberal government, we are seeing excellent progress in creating a long-term-care system that Ontarians can be proud of, but there is still more that needs to be done. The ability to provide in-home diagnostic services has been limited by the availability of equipment and trained staff.

Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting long-term-care homes to better address the care and needs of our seniors?

The purchases made with this funding will prove critical in supporting seniors across our province. It is reassuring that residents with complex needs can get the diagnostic services they deserve in the comfort of their home instead of a hospital.

However, our government must remain focused on implementing solutions that will continue to ensure our seniors receive the quality of care they need. Can the minister please elaborate on how our government is expanding specialized services in long-term-care homes?

To respond, the Minister of Long-Term Care.

The supplementary question.

Interjections.

Start the clock.

The Minister of Long-Term Care has the floor.

Order. Order. The member for Carleton is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to ask her question. I would ask the House to come to order so we can start the clock again and resume question period.

Start the clock. Member for Carleton.

Deferred vote on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 135, An Act to amend the Connecting Care Act, 2019 with respect to home and community care services and health governance and to make related amendments to other Acts / Projet de loi 135, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2019 pour des soins interconnectés en ce qui concerne les services de soins à domicile et en milieu communautaire et la gouvernance de la santé et apportant des modifications connexes à d’autres lois.

The division bells rang from 1143 to 1148.

On October 16, 2023, Ms. Jones, Dufferin–Caledon, moved second reading of Bill 135.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Second reading agreed to.

There being no further business at this time, this House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1153 to 1500.

Well, the one thing where I will agree with the member opposite is that there is no one in our health care system who should feel unsafe when they are doing a job and protecting the people of Ontario.

We have worked very closely with our paramedic chiefs and associations to make sure that we have resourced them appropriately. Of course, the member opposite knows we are a 50-50 partner with our municipal partners to make sure that we fund 50% of any expansion of the paramedic services in the province of Ontario. We will continue to do that, but I want to make it very clear that we do not tolerate violence in our health care system, including, of course, with our paramedics.

But I must say, I’m also incredibly proud of our government and our Premier when we announced a PTSI centre with Runnymede to ensure that our first responders—including our paramedics, who we know historically have had a higher rate of PTSI—have the supports they need with an expansion of that centre.