SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
November 2, 2023 09:00AM
  • Nov/2/23 11:20:00 a.m.

Of course, the member opposite knows I cannot speak to specific cases. I was not in the dispatch centre, nor was she, and she was not there on the scene. What I will say, and she knows it full well, is that ambulance dispatch in the province of Ontario is a seamless system, which means wherever you are in the province of Ontario, the closest ambulance to you will assist you.

Now, having said that, we have ensured, through working directly with our ambulance and paramedic experts, to make sure that we have put in additional programs and supports, always there as a 50-50 partner with municipalities as they expand their ambulance services, whether that is personnel or vehicles.

Look, I know that the NDP have categorically stated that they don’t want to see any change in our health care system, but the truth is, we are making changes that are impacting people’s lives and making sure that services are available closer to home.

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  • Nov/2/23 11:30:00 a.m.

In the member’s own question, she talks about how we have in fact made an investment. We have asked for expression of interest. We have had literally hundreds of applications come in. We are making those assessments. So, on one hand, she acknowledges that through our Your Health plan we’ve made an investment and a commitment to expand primary care across Ontario. Yet now she is suggesting that we are not doing that. Which is it? Because we’ve made the investment. We are assessing those applications as we speak—as I said, the largest expansion in multidisciplinary primary care teams in the province’s history. We’re doing that work.

Were you there? Were you supporting it when we put that in our Your Health plan in the budget? The short answer is no.

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  • Nov/2/23 11:40:00 a.m.

The expression of interest came in mid-June. We are making those assessments with literally hundreds of applications. A member who is representing a party that, for 15 years, did nothing to expand primary care in the province of Ontario and, in fact, Speaker, actually cut the number of residency positions that were available for new docs and new physicians who were wanting to practise and train in the province of Ontario—I will take no lessons from that member on how to improve health care in the province of Ontario.

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