Supplementary?

Welcome back. It’s good to have you here.

It is my sad duty now to have to say a word of thanks to our legislative pages as they depart. Our pages are smart, trustworthy and hard-working. They’re indispensable to the effective functioning of this chamber, and we are indeed fortunate to have had them here.

To our pages: You depart having made some new friends, with a greater understanding of parliamentary democracy and memories that will last a lifetime. Each of you will go home now and continue your studies, and no doubt you will contribute to your communities in important ways. We expect great things from all of you. Who knows? Maybe some of you someday will take your seats in this House as members or work here as staff. But no matter where your path leads you, we wish you well.

I would ask the members now to join me in thanking this group of legislative pages.

Applause.

The member highlights several important problems that our government inherited. When you have a problem, you have to look at where that problem originated from and take steps towards fixing it. That’s what this government did in 2018, Speaker.

One of the problems the member highlights is a capacity issue. Under the last government, over 15 years, 611 net new long-term-care spaces were built—not nearly enough for a growing population, an aging population, with record immigration and seniors moving to this province.

This government decided to do things differently: a $10-billion investment—the largest capital investment in this country’s history—to build and upgrade 58,000 new spaces for our seniors. That plan is bearing fruit, Speaker.

In fact, I was just last month with that member in his riding to announce 160 new spaces in the Ivan Franko home, part of 18,000 spaces we have built, or have shovels in the ground, since 2018. We’re going to continue to invest in our seniors.

I want to thank that member, and merry Christmas to you.

But to make those homes, it has to be more than just a physical space. We have to talk about the health human resources. That’s why this government is investing up to $1.25 billion for long-term-care homes this year to hire, to retain thousands of hard-working front-line health care workers who do the job for our seniors that, frankly, many of us cannot do—part of a larger plan of $4.9 billion to make sure we hire 27,000 PSWs, to hire thousands of nurses, to provide programs for those PSWs, for those nurses to scale up and to stay within the sector because we know that our seniors need them. In fact, by 2025, we’re establishing a nation-leading standard of four hours of daily care per resident in our homes for our great seniors.

Seniors built our country. We have to take care of them.

I want to wish everyone happy holidays and remind people that tomorrow the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance is here—they’re known as TOGA. In the spirit of the holiday season, they’ll be bringing poinsettias and celebrating with you. So if you’re available from mid-morning to noon tomorrow, please pop by room 247 to visit with the people who belong to the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance. That’s an invitation for all of you.

I just want to sincerely wish everyone happy holidays, a very merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah.

We may disagree back and forth; people see this on television, and they don’t see the interaction after, when we go over and we talk to the members over there or you come over here.

I have a personal New Year’s resolution: Let’s not get personal. I do it sometimes, too. I really do. Let’s just be kinder to each other. We can have healthy debates back and forth, but we can respect each other, because we’re all here for the same reason: We’re here to serve our constituents. Obviously, all of us want to make our constituents proud of us, our family proud of us. Let’s leave the family out of it going into 2024 and just have great parliamentary debates, because when we work together, we get so much more done than working separately.

I want to wish everyone the very best. God bless each and every one of you.

On behalf of the smallest but growing caucus over in this corner of the Legislature, I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas, happy holidays, happy Hanukkah.

I, too, want to thank everyone for your service to the people of Ontario.

Aislinn wanted me to pass on just how much she appreciated the warm welcome she received when she was here the other day. She’s looking forward to taking her seat and joining all of you.

Like the member from Timiskaming–Cochrane, I want to thank everybody who serves us in this Legislature and in this building, including the people who clean my office each and every evening, and wish you all the best in the new year.

Applause.

On behalf of the official opposition—this isn’t the time to be oppositional—happy holidays to everyone. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah—whatever faith, colour or creed.

We play a crucial role in this province, all of us—the government, us holding the government to account. But I would like to especially thank the people who allow us to play our role: the people at the table; the people behind, where no one but us knows what goes on; the security; the people who clean our offices; anyone else that I’ve forgotten—but the one group that I can’t forget: the folks in the cafeteria.

We all serve the people of Ontario, and whatever we do, we all play a crucial role—a role that none of us could function without each other.

Merry Christmas. Happy new year.

Government House leader.

This House stands in recess until 1 p.m.

The House recessed from 1203 to 1300.

Report continues in volume B.

Speaker, Her Honour awaits.

Her Honour the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario entered the chamber of the Legislative Assembly and took her seat upon the throne.

Point of order.

The Premier is right; we are one big family—a dysfunctional family, a weird family. And if the Premier will commit to not getting personal, I’ll try that, too.

Interjection.

Merry Christmas.