I would like to thank all of the supporters of the Spot—this is the supervised consumption site—for their signatures on their petition. You can sort of hear them because they’re outside of the Legislature right now.

Did you know, Speaker, that in Sudbury the overdose death rate is three times higher than in the rest of Ontario?

They submitted an application in 2021 for funding for a supervised consumption site, which we call the Spot, but the government refuses to fund them. They were operated for a while by money that came from the municipality and then by donors, and while they were operated, they had over a thousand visits. They reversed all 17 overdoses that happened on-site, and they helped decrease the amount of overdoses throughout our community because they tested drugs.

I agree with the petition to immediately approve funding for the supervised consumption site in Sudbury, to save lives. I will add my name to it and ask my good page Myah to bring it to the Clerk.

I would like to thank the 8,000 people from the Muskoka area who have signed this petition. Basically, they wrote up this petition because the board of directors of Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare is looking at closing the hospital in south Muskoka and moving all of the beds to Huntsville. The residents and the people in south Muskoka, the 8,000 people who signed the petition, are opposed to this. They want to keep the hospital in south Muskoka open, with an emergency room, with in-patient beds. So they are asking for two things. The first one is that they want changes to how the board of directors for Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare—that’s the hospital corporation that looks after south Muskoka and Huntsville—to be duly elected, so they have a say. Second, they want to make sure that the hospital in south Muskoka stays open.

I support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask page Farah to bring it to the Clerk.

Every other province in Canada has made agreements with Bell Canada to make sure that 911 was available everywhere. It is time for Ontario to do this.

The tourist season is coming in my riding. If you’re good enough to swat out the mosquitoes and blackflies, you’re welcome to Nickel Belt—and I hope you don’t run into problems, but if you do, remember to memorize the 1-800 number, because 911 doesn’t work.

I support what Beaver Lake is trying to do. I will affix my name to it and—

There are about 200 people who have signed because most of them live either on Joe Lake East or on Dixon Lake Road. Those two roads in Nickel Belt used to be maintained when they were part of the city of Valley East. When the city was amalgamated to become part of the city of Greater Sudbury, the city of Greater Sudbury only maintained a part of Joe Lake East, and they are supposed to maintain it all. The Dixon Lake Road has been graded and plowed on occasion but not maintained on a regular basis. So they want the province to make sure that the city of Greater Sudbury respects the act that basically said that they have to maintain the road.

I’m happy to sign this petition, and I will ask page Farah to deliver it to the Clerks.

As you know, Speaker, in northern Ontario, we don’t have access to all of the health care services that exist in Ontario, but we do gain access through the Northern Health Travel Grant that pays for part of the travel and accommodations when we have to come to Toronto or Ottawa or London for tertiary care that is not available in the north. Unfortunately, the rates for compensation for your travel and accommodation are so low that a lot of people end up in a situation where they cannot afford to come down south. They will forgo the treatment and the care that they need because they can’t afford it. The accommodations used to be $100; it will soon be $170 a night—but it is impossible to find a hotel room in Toronto for $170 a night; the same thing with the mileage. They are asking for a full review of all of the different parts of the travel grant, so that people in the north have equitable access.

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and ask page Emily to bring it to the Clerk.

Mr. Sarkaria moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 197, An Act to amend the Highway Traffic Act / Projet de loi 197, Loi modifiant le Code de la route.

I can tell you that when my constituents saw that there was a bill called safer roads and communities, they were very encouraged. My constituent Deb Rowes, who lives in Geneva Lake off of Highway 144, reached out, and she wants to know how many people need to die on Highway 144 before the government makes the roads safer. You see that, two weeks ago, there was a crash that closed the roads. A 43-year-old man from Sudbury died. On May 1, earlier, the highway was closed due to an accident. There were three road closures in March due to big accidents, followed by three accidents in February that closed the road. There was another three-vehicle accident in January where a 61-year-old man died. That is nine road closures—two deaths—in five months on Highway 144. Do you see anything in this bill that will make Highway 144 safer for the people I represent?