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.

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—

Thank you to the member from Mississauga Centre for her great remarks this morning. In 2018, our government was elected on a promise to invest in health care in this province and end hallway health care in our hospitals, because under the previous 15 years of the Liberal government, supported by the NDP, they failed our health care system miserably.

My question to the member from Mississauga Centre is, how does this legislation fit in with our government’s broader strategy to really support Ontarians and provide them with the health care they need, when and where they need it?

You know, Madam Speaker, what is by any means not going to come out is any solutions to our health care challenges that we are facing from the member opposite and her party. But on this side of the House, what we are proposing on top of this legislation—we are also investing an additional $10.3 million this year to support Ontario health teams to implement better ways to connect primary, hospital and home and community care for patients with diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and many other options.

On this side of the House, we are proposing solutions, and all you guys are doing is saying “no” to every single one.

Madam Speaker, do you know what we have done since then? We have currently shovels in the ground for 50 hospital infrastructure projects across the province of Ontario, and if we were to look on those benches over there, probably many of their communities are currently getting either a brand-new hospital or a redeveloped hospital. Over the course of the pandemic, we have built 3,100 new acute care beds. That is the equivalent of seven community hospitals.

So we, on this side of the House, again we’re investing in infrastructure. We are modernizing our home care. We’re embedding home care within local communities, within the 57 Ontario health teams, and we will continue to do that important work because that’s what the people of Ontario expect from us.

But if you want to talk about investments, this government is investing $14 billion more into health care than the previous government. This government also invested $90 million to build a francophone college in your riding. You should go and visit it and talk to those health care providers, those future nurses and PSWs. For the first time in the history of this province, we have francophone health care workers being educated just steps away from here, in your riding. So I highly suggest you go visit them and maybe listen to them for some innovative solutions.

That is why the member of Thornhill and I introduced Bill 121, Improving Dementia Care in Ontario Act, to make sure that our PSWs, when they graduate from our colleges, are actually fully equipped and fully prepared to work in the realities of home care and long-term care and acute care as well. So this is a whole-of-government approach. The member for Thornhill and I had one specific idea on dementia care but it is fully supported by this government. We will continue to do the hard work because our seniors deserve it.

But do you know what else, Madam Speaker? We are building two new medical schools in the province of Ontario. How about that? We’re going to have more doctors graduating every year from one in the community of Brampton—we’re very proud for the first time to have our own medical school in the region of Peel—and we have another one that is being built in Scarborough. Many of your members come from Scarborough. You should be celebrating this.

Guess what? We are taking a whole-of-government approach and a whole-of-continuum-of-care approach, meaning we’re investing in our PSWs, in our nurses and in our physicians and we will continue to do that.

But what I want to say is that my local hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, has recently received a $2.5-million extra investment to hire more staff into the ER. I’m very proud to share that, because that is new funding and that will help with some of the capacity challenges.

It was very good to hear my friend from Mississauga Centre speak this morning about this great bill. I think probably the greatest thing about this job is the great people you get to meet, and being able to listen to someone who has been on the front lines of health care her entire career and continues to serve where she can and when she can is absolutely amazing.

Rather than calling the progress we’ve made in hiring nurses, in building hospitals and committing millions and millions of dollars to home care, “tinkering,” we’re actually getting stuff done. Constituents in my riding have told me how important it is for them that they are able to stay in their home and in their community as long as possible as they age.

I was hoping the member could tell us a little bit more about how important this is and how this bill will ensure that seniors from my community, and indeed across Ontario, are able to age in place.

Thank you to the Minister of Health for that response, and I do hope that you will respond to the letter that I sent to you by hand on long COVID.

Anyway, back to the Premier: Hospitalizations for COVID-19 have increased, but Ontario seniors can’t find vaccines and boosters. People in Haliburton were told they would have access to shots by early October, but their local pharmacies say they haven’t received the doses. Did we learn nothing from the chaotic and inequitable distribution of vaccines in the early stages of the pandemic, courtesy of this Conservative government?

My question is back to the Premier. COVID-19 vaccines were promised by October. Why are seniors across this province still unable to access them?