Recently, I attended a seniors’ tea in Ottawa West–Nepean, with over 200 seniors in attendance, and as I made my way around the room chatting with people, I heard the same thing over and over again: “Can you please get the Premier to fix our health care system?”

It was the same at the General Burns community fun day on Saturday as hundreds of residents stopped by my tent. Person after person told me, “Our health care system is broken. What can we do to get the government to actually care?”

But while Ottawa residents are desperate for action, the health minister says that there is no recruitment and retention problem for family doctors; this at a moment when 2.3 million people in Ontario have no family doctor, and every week, my office hears from constituents who are about to lose their family doctor or have already lost their family doctor.

The Premier has also fought in court for two years against your right to know how many nurses and personal support workers we are short in Ontario, saying it would be “economically damaging” to share this information, even as they don’t care how damaging it is to your health.

The government is also paying more to private, for-profit clinics to perform the same surgeries that are being provided for less in our public hospitals, meaning that taxpayer dollars are going to fund profits instead of increasing the number of surgeries, even though our public hospitals have the capacity to do more.

I agree with my constituents. It’s time for the government to stop playing games with our health care system and get to work on fixing it so that you get the health care you deserve.

Speaker, as we are approaching June, we are also approaching the Senior Volunteer Appreciation Week and Seniors Month in Ontario. This is a time dedicated to honouring our seniors.

In 2021, this House passed my Senior Volunteer Appreciation Week Act, establishing the first week of June each year as Senior Volunteer Appreciation Week. I am proud to say that this initiative has since inspired our communities to express their gratitude towards our senior volunteers. It has also encouraged seniors to remain active and involved in community life.

To mark this special week, I will once again be presenting the senior volunteer awards to our cherished senior volunteers in Markham–Unionville. Their efforts have had a profound impact across multiple generations, fostering a spirit of community and continuity. Their selfless sacrifice deserves our utmost respect and recognition.

I sincerely encourage my fellow members to honour our seniors and senior volunteers this June. I am also grateful for the opportunity this legislation has provided to highlight their invaluable contributions.