SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
March 18, 2024 09:00AM
  • Mar/18/24 11:00:00 a.m.

Speaker, I can’t believe the member opposite is suggesting that we should be taking over every single pharmacy in the province of Ontario. These are business owners who are working in the health care field that are providing exceptional service for the people of Ontario—800,000 people have accessed service in their community pharmacy since January 2023, and the member opposite is, what, suggesting that the government should be taking over pharmacies? Come on. Can we start actually thinking about how convenience in care and access to care is an important piece of our health care system?

Every single time we bring forward initiatives and investments that are going to improve access in your community, you vote against them. It is beyond belief, frankly, that the NDP motion that is calling for more administration isn’t saying, “We support and agree with a tripling of the primary care expansion,” from our original announcement when we made it in Your Health.

To suggest that 78 primary care expansions of multidisciplinary teams is not going to make a difference in the province of Ontario is, frankly, individuals living in an alternative reality.

And, Speaker, why can we do that? Why can we continue to invest in health and continue to expand the health care budget? Because we have an economy where people want to live and grow their business in the province of Ontario. When you have those opportunities, you see expansions that can happen under Premier Ford’s government. We are making those investments—50 capital expansions in the province of Ontario. There is more work to be done, and it cannot be solved overnight after decades of neglect, but we’re getting the job done.

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