Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

This morning, in the media studio, my colleague the MPP from Niagara Falls and I were joined by Erin Ariss, the president of the Ontario Nurses’ Association. She stated: “Our publicly funded hospitals and long-term-care homes are seeing their budgets drained by these greedy, for-profit” nursing “agency owners who bill obscene amounts of money.”

Is the Minister of Health taking any action whatsoever to stop for-profit nursing agencies from making millions of dollars in profit at the expense of quality care in our hospitals and long-term-care homes?

Will this government take action to ensure that health care dollars are paying for quality care, not lining the pockets of private nursing agency executives?

The bill enacts the Healthcare Staffing Agencies Act, 2023. The act provides that every hospital and long-term-care home in a municipality with a population of 8,000 or more shall develop a plan to limit its spending on health care staffing agencies in accordance with a specified timeline—leading to complete elimination within two years.

Every health care staffing agency established after the act comes into force shall operate as a not-for-profit. If a health care staffing agency receives more than $400,000 in total from the government of Ontario or any of its transfer payments agencies, the health care staffing agency is subject to oversight by the Auditor General, the Patient Ombudsman, the Ontario Ombudsman and the Integrity Commissioner. The agency’s employees are also included on the sunshine list.

A health care staffing agency shall not pay its workers assigned to a hospital or long-term-care home more than 10% above the existing rate in the hospital or long-term-care home for the relevant profession. The stipend for transportation, accommodation and per diem will be paid directly to the worker. A health care staffing agency shall not poach employees from hospitals or long-term-care homes.

Mr. Glover moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 145, An Act to amend the Building Code Act, 1992 with respect to bird-safe windows / Projet de loi 145, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1992 sur le code du bâtiment en ce qui concerne les fenêtres sans danger pour les oiseaux.

“Support Access to Spine Care in Ontario....

“Whereas people waiting for complex spinal surgeries, including for scoliosis, are forced to wait years in debilitating pain for the care they need, risking lifelong consequences and deterioration in function;

“Whereas surgeons are willing and able to help, but the system puts up many barriers. Surgeons face the difficult choice of offering routine spinal surgeries—which guarantee compensation—over complex spinal surgeries, further lengthening the wait times for patients with complex cases;

“Whereas the lack of collaboration between the Ministry of Health adjudicators and providers has led to challenges in conducting fair and accurate assessments of complex cases;

“Whereas Ontario’s funding for complex cases for spinal surgeries, derived from the general funding bucket, deprioritizes complex spinal surgeries, over routine/simple surgeries;”

They petition the Legislative Assembly as follows:

“—address the ever-increasing wait times and make complex spinal surgeries available in a timely manner;

“—immediately improve access to surgery for complex spinal conditions by increasing and equitably funding spine care in Ontario hospitals.”

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask my good page Saniyah to bring it to the Clerk.