I’d like to talk about something that I believe falls within the bill—but also, because of the words “common sense.”

I received a letter this morning from Unifor Local 4212, and I think it goes to all of us. The seaway, right now, is a very important part for transporting grain, our food—and everything along the St. Lawrence Seaway. They said, “We write to you, as a member of provincial Parliament from Ontario representing a constituency along the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp., operating the Welland Canal. We aim to express our deep solidarity and strongly urge the employer to engage in meaningful—with the workers’ last offer, which unfortunately resulted in a breakdown of negotiations.

“Our collective goal should focus on establishing fair wages and working conditions by negotiating in good faith with Unifor for your workforce along the seaway, both in Niagara and beyond. The Welland Canal and the entire St. Lawrence Seaway is a beacon of pride for Niagara. The nearly 400 Unifor workers and their families that go to work at the Welland Canal deserve nothing less than their full commitment to ensure their rights and livelihoods are met.

“These are more than workers. They are our neighbours, community volunteers, our local leaders, that make contributions to Niagara every day, and they deserve to be treated with fairness and respect.

“In these challenging times, we have seen inflation rise by double digits. It is critical to acknowledge the tenacity of the workers to stand up for fair wages, pushing back about the recent efforts towards contracting-out of skilled workers and good-paying jobs.

“We understand that negotiations are complex, and there are many factors at play. However, the importance of the strike on Niagara workers”—and, I’ll add, right across the province of Ontario—“for our economy cannot be underestimated. It implores the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. to approach these negotiations with the urgency and the sincerity that it requires.

“Together, we stand with the workers in Niagara fighting for a fair contract. Our combined teams are ready to assist in any way possible to facilitate a fair negotiation and support workers in Niagara and our communities through our difficult times.”

I’m suggesting that all parties write a letter to support getting back to the bargaining table. We have grain that is sitting out on our lake here, Lake Ontario, that’s not getting to our customers to feed people. They’ve got to get back to the table and get a fair collective agreement. And I will say very clearly that I stand with all the workers at Unifor Local 4212.

I know it might be a little off the red tape part, but I thought I’d read that letter because of the importance of the St. Lawrence Seaway and those workers to our food sources and other materials for small, medium-sized and large businesses. So I appreciate the time to read that letter. I know you’re probably not happy with that, but I had to get it out. So I appreciate it, and I’ll move on.

Madam Speaker, speaking to this bill is a great opportunity to discuss the details, but also to discuss the real lack of direction from this government. They seem to continue to fail to meet the moment. We have a bill here that does a number of technical amendments and changes, many non-concerning, but it’s also one, again, that misses so many important opportunities.

Let’s really think about what we’ve done in this session so far. Has this government come out and said they are truly going to tackle the major challenges people are facing in their lives today? No, they haven’t. Affordability, health care, housing—they seem to ignore all of them.

The housing file is potentially one of the biggest areas of concern. The new minister spends more time complaining about the federal government than actually doing his job. The minister, who has recently been the poster boy of flip-flopping and backtracking on bad decisions, is not getting housing built and most definitely not getting affordable housing units built in all our ridings. How can the minister even do his job when he has to spend so much time filling in for the Premier in question period? It’s a fair question.

Madam Speaker, government is all about priorities, and this government’s priorities are all over the place. The member for London North Centre put forward thoughtful, pragmatic legislation to get affordable housing built. Guess what this government did? They said no. They voted it down, because we all know they don’t want affordable housing built in this province. They aren’t concerned with the couple in their mid-thirties making a decent living who can’t move out of their parents’ house and will never be able to afford a down payment on a home. Those aren’t their donors, and they don’t create policy to help them.

What this bill tells us right from the beginning—this government continues to fail to meet the moment in this province. I’m going to read that again, because it’s important. This bill tells us, right from the beginning, that the government continues to fail to meet the moment in this province. It’s more status quo, just like we saw with the previous Liberal government.

This government seems to follow in the same direction as the previous Liberals when it comes to underfunding health care, but this time it’s even worse, because you’re going into privatization of our health care—one of the biggest mistakes I think your government will ever make. This legislation and the bill brought forward before it this session have done nothing to address the growing health care crisis in our province.

I can talk to it because I’m from Niagara—as you know, Madam Speaker, from our years of knowing each other. You know I’ve lived in Niagara my entire life.

The story of Fort Erie—it’s a community; it’s a border town. They had a hospital there. There were decisions made to close that hospital, and then it became an urgent care centre. In Fort Erie, we’re growing—in the next few years, we’re going to have over 40,000 residents living in that community. We had an urgent care centre that was 24/7; just recently, they decided to only open it up 10 hours a day.

I’ll give you a couple of examples of what happened in Fort Erie. There was an 11-year-old boy who had an appendix attack, and he went to the hospital in Fort Erie, when it was still 24/7. If he’d had to go to Niagara Falls or to St. Catharines—because they’re the two hospitals that people have to go to after 8 o’clock at night now—he would have died. But, because it was open, those nurses and the doctors who were on shift saved his life. That’s one example.

I have an example of a senior who had a heart attack and, again, because it was 24/7, he went to the Fort Erie hospital. They were able to stabilize him, and then they sent him off to Hamilton, where he had open-heart surgery. Again, do you know what happened, Madam Speaker? Those nurses and doctors in Fort Erie, because it was open 24/7, saved his life. And yet, the decision that’s being made today is that it’s going to be open 10 hours a day.

You say to yourself, why are those decisions being made? We hear from the government all the time—and, Madam Speaker, you know this—that we’re investing record numbers of dollars into health care, even though it’s not completely accurate. But that’s what they’re saying.

So I’m saying to this government—you always say we never come with solutions. Well, I want to give you a solution around the red tape. Why do we continue to fight Bill 124 in the courts and attack our nurses and our health care workers? Why don’t we get rid of Bill 124, reinvest those dollars that you’re paying high-priced lawyers in Toronto, invest in workers and nurses and health care, and make sure that Fort Erie’s hospital is open 24/7 for the residents?

The one thing I want to add to that is that over 25% of all residents who live in Fort Erie are seniors, and there aren’t a lot of transportation options in Fort Erie.

I’ll give you one more example of why it needs to be open. We’re getting close to Christmas. I saw somebody in the elevator yesterday for the PCs who had Christmas cards—

Interjection.

Last Christmas—I think it was December 23; I might be out by a day—we had that terrible ice storm. Does anybody remember that ice storm we had that was down in Niagara—more in the Fort Erie area—where in Buffalo people froze to death in their cars? In Fort Erie, we lost a couple of people who had had heart attacks and couldn’t get out of their rooms. Guess what happened? They closed the highway. The highway was shut down for five days—five days. As a matter of fact—and I think you worked for CHCH at one time, Madam Speaker—the crews couldn’t get to Fort Erie. They got stuck on the highway and ended up in the ditch.

Well, in Fort Erie, now that it’s only open 10 hours a day—meaning it’s closed from 8 at night until 8 in the morning—what do we do in that same situation if it happens this Christmas? Where do they go to get service? More residents are not going to have their health care.

It’s important that we make sure that Fort Erie is taken care of. Our public—