I would like to thank Gisele Raymind from Hanmer in my riding for this petition. It’s called “Coverage for Take-Home Cancer Drugs.”

Basically, cancer drugs, if they are administered in a hospital, are covered with no out-of-pocket expenses. But for more and more cancer drugs, you don’t need to be in a hospital anymore; you can take them at home, which is great for patient care, but that means that you have to pay for them. For many people, that’s a huge barrier to care.

In other provinces, whether we look at British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba or Quebec, they all cover take-home cancer drugs so that you can focus on getting through your cancer treatment and getting better as fast as you can. The Canadian Cancer Society has called on the government to cover take-home cancer drugs. I think it is high time for Ontario to join other provinces in Canada and make sure that every patient facing cancer can put all of their energy into getting better, not into trying to get coverage for the drugs that will help them do better.

I am happy to add my name to this petition and I will ask my good page Aura to bring the petition to the Clerk.

Basically, medicare is a program that defines us as Canadians and as Ontarians, where the care we get is based on our needs, not on our ability to pay. Under this government, we have seen more and more of the publicly paid-for care being delivered by for-profit companies. The for-profit companies are there for one reason: to make money. It is really easy to make money off of the backs of sick people. Once you are sick, nothing else matters.

We have to make sure that our health care system is protected, that we do not want people to make money off of the backs of sick people, and people are signing this petition by the hundreds every single day. I get big stacks of it coming to my office to make sure that the services we get will be based on our needs, not on our ability to pay.

I support this petition and will ask Shiara to bring it to the Clerk.

Did you know, Speaker, that right now there are more than 1,742 people on the wait-list for an organ in Ontario? And that, of those people, every third day one of them will die waiting for an organ? It doesn’t have to be that way. Over 81% of Ontarians want to be a donor. If you ask 81% of us that want to be a donor, only a fraction of this—36%—have signed their donor card.

I have a bill in the name of one of my colleagues, Peter Kormos, who would change this. We would basically copy what has been done in Nova Scotia, where we would assume consent, give people many, many chances to opt out, all the way until after death—their loved ones will have an opportunity to opt out—but I can guarantee you that that will increase the number of organs available for people who need them and would bring a lot of relief to our health care system at the same time.

This is something that I strongly support. Peter Kormos started it, and I would be very happy to see it become a reality. So I’ll be happy to add my name to it and give it to page Simon to bring to the Clerk.

Il y a plusieurs programmes du système de santé qui n’existent pas dans le nord de l’Ontario. On doit se déplacer, soit à Toronto, Ottawa, London, pour les recevoir. Le gouvernement nous rembourse les frais de transport, les frais d’hébergement, étant donné que les services ne sont pas disponibles dans le Nord. Par contre, les frais n’ont pas été mis à jour depuis très longtemps.

Et là, je vais faire un petit paragraphe, parce que dans le budget qui vient d’être déposé, il y aura une augmentation des frais d’hébergement, qui passeront de 100 $ par nuit à 175 $ par nuit. Mais les frais de transport, les autres frais, n’ont pas changé depuis les années 1990. On a besoin de mettre ce programme-là à jour, parce qu’il y a des gens qui vont choisir de ne pas avoir de traitements parce qu’ils ne peuvent pas payer pour se rendre dans le sud de l’Ontario.

Je suis d’accord avec cette pétition. Je vais la signer et je demande à Simon de l’amener à la table des greffiers.

Resuming the debate adjourned on April 24, 2024, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 188, An Act to amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 and various other Acts / Projet de loi 188, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2017 sur les services à l’enfance, à la jeunesse et à la famille et diverses autres lois.