The Information and Privacy Commissioner, an independent and non-partisan officer, identified rampant confidentiality issues with this legislation and made a series of recommendations, all of which were declined by the government during clause-by-clause consideration. What action is this government taking to actually ensure that this bill provides any protection for patient confidentiality, recognizing that none has been identified, as written?

We managed to table a lot of motions and amendments to this bill in the very short period of time that we had been given, but it didn’t matter if we talked about, number one, making PSW jobs good jobs so that they can recruit and retain a stable workforce; that we talked about the conflict of interest of having care coordinators working for for-profit agencies; that we talked about the Information and Privacy Commissioner writing to us and asking us to make changes to the bill to make sure that we protect patients’ privacy; that we asked for changes to the board so that we can see what is happening with the boards of the LHINs, that we have access to their minutes, we have access to their meetings. None of this will be available once the LHINs are no longer there in Ontario Health atHome. They voted each and every one of those amendments down.

How can you ensure transparency—

I first met Patty in 2015 when she was elected as secretary-treasurer of the OFL, and she has not stopped impressing me ever since. Patty changed the OFL for the better. Her leadership style is completely different. She’s a collaborator. She brings people together to co-operate, to accomplish goals as a team. Patty is able to listen, in sometimes pretty tense situations, and hear what unites us, not what divides us. She brings together those pieces that everyone agrees on and uses them to unite allies with very different perspectives and priorities. Over the last four years under her leadership, the OFL was able to rally members towards a united labour movement.

Patty’s leadership came to the forefront last year, when this government introduced the Keeping Students in Class Act, an unconstitutional bill that was an attack on every union member, every worker, every student and every parent in this province. They won. The OFL, under Patty’s leadership, brought together workers in a united front that forced this government to step back.

I will miss you, Patty, but remember: I kept your phone number.