Well, thank you very much, Madam Speaker, for the opportunity.

To the member opposite: I listened very carefully to your comments, and I’ve been listening to debate now on this for several hours over the last couple of days. As a new member in this House, there’s a lot of references to the opportunities and, in fact, the need for us to work together. I’m wondering, in the spirit of working together, and as a new member, is there something within this bill that you see that you could point to that supports the work that we are trying to do on behalf of all of our constituents to create more space for residents in this province to have access to good long-term care when and where they need it most? Do you see anything in this bill that you can agree helps the residents in this province to obtain that?

I really want to thank the minister for that question.

I think we all should really thank the minister for the outstanding work that he has been doing on this file. When you look at the work that’s being done in reducing wait-lists and ensuring that patients—

Interjections.

It really is unfortunate that the members opposite don’t want to listen and they don’t want to read and they don’t want to understand that the work we are doing has helped so many people in our province. One only need look at the makeup of this room after June 2, 2022, and it’s evident that we are helping so many in our communities across all of Ontario, and the people of this province are seeing the results, are appreciating that response and responding in turn.

I look forward to being able to speak a little further in the next opportunity here about the outstanding work that we are doing.

To the member opposite: We’re starting off a new day, but apparently the same message will continue, as has been going on for several days from the opposition members going into last week, who still are incapable of reading the bill. Apparently, not enough time has yet passed for them to be able to do so. Mr. Speaker, I would really like to think of the words that you used earlier this morning, when you spoke about illusion to reality. Perhaps there’s more delusion than any of it at this point in time.

I’m really, really hoping that the member opposite, and all of the members opposite, will take the time to read the bill and see that there is absolutely no change in policy. There is no situation that is going to arise where their consent would not be obtained first.

That is really the goal and what we’re trying to accomplish, Mr. Speaker: to ensure we’re increasing that capacity by ensuring that we are making more space for seniors to have proper care where they need it most and the level of care that they need most. That’s freeing up room in our hospitals and ensuring that the individuals who need that level of care within the hospital system are receiving the appropriate level of care. I look forward to being able to speak about this a bit in further questions.

I can just look at my own hometown riding, where I recall a waiting list, when we first got elected in 2018, of over 400 people in my city of Sault Ste. Marie, many of whom were in alternate levels of care within the hospital. With the investments our government has made over the last four years, my community is now looking at having reduced that wait-list by half, with only 204 people now left on a wait-list that was well over 400 back in June 2018, after years of neglect by the opposition parties, the coalition Liberal-NDP government that existed for so long here in the province of Ontario, where a measly 600 beds were created over that entire span of time.

I think it’s absolutely critical and important that the opposition members recognize the outstanding work that our government is doing and that our Minister of Long-Term Care is doing to ensure that we are making more capacity within our hospitals, and that the people of this province—

Perhaps I can help, because there are two critical components in terms of the work that we are doing to support the long-term-care sector here in the province of Ontario. The first part of that, as I referenced in my comments yesterday, is that we’re ensuring that we’re improving staff levels and hours of care within our institutions. Specifically, a key pillar of that plan is making sure that we’re hiring more staff.

An additional key pillar to that plan we spoke about yesterday as well is to address the wait-lists, and we’re ensuring that we’re building more modern, safe and comfortable beds for our seniors.

At no point in time is anybody going to see them being moved without their consent and being billed for whatever—I’m not sure I understand the member’s question, because it’s premised on something false.

So it’s going to be important that the member opposite does read the bill so that they can appreciate what it is we’re actually doing.

I want to begin by saying that I would like to share my time with the member from Burlington, later in the speech, of course.

I want to start by thanking the good people of Sault Ste. Marie for giving me the privilege and the honour to represent them once again here in the provincial Parliament of Ontario. It’s my third opportunity to represent my wonderful community, and I was really proud to have this opportunity on June 2, so I really wanted to take that opportunity to say thank you.

I’m going to be taking some time this afternoon to speak about the More Beds, Better Care Act of 2022 and the difference that it is making in my community of Sault Ste. Marie. I’d like to bring that perspective on behalf of my constituents, because I think it’s so important that we can really appreciate how the work we are doing in this House is impacting the lives of individuals across every part of this province, but most notably within the communities we represent. In Sault Ste. Marie and across northern Ontario, and of course throughout all of Ontario, this work is significant. More important than its significance is how important it is to the people of our communities, to the people we love, the people we care for, our seniors.

We are the first government to enshrine this commitment into the legislation with the Fixing Long-Term Care Act.

There are two key components that I would like to speak about here today.

Firstly, the work that we are doing that is proposed within this legislation is going to do so much to improve staffing levels and increase hours of care for every resident per day. This has been going on incrementally since 2021, and it will continue to 2024-25.

I then want to speak about the great strides that are being made regarding the building of modern, safe, comfortable homes for our seniors. A key pillar of the work that we are doing to fix long-term care involves hiring 27,000 new care staff. That is going to increase the quality of care that the people of our great province are receiving. It’s going to allow our government to fulfill our commitment of providing an average of four hours of direct care for every resident for every day.

Last year alone, our government invested $270 million to increase staffing levels by over 4,050 people. This year, we’re looking at investing an additional $673 million into our long-term-care homes so that we can hire—and not only hire, Madam Speaker, but retain an additional 10,000 long-term-care staff across our great province of Ontario. This is part of a $4.9-billion—and of course, that’s billion with a B—investment over the next four years to allow us to reach our commitment of hitting that average of four hours of daily direct care per resident. There has been $100 million dollars invested already, which has increased our nurses in long-term care by 2,000 through to 2024-25 and has supported the training of thousands of PSWs and nurses who wish to advance their careers in the long-term-care sector. Earlier, in the fall economic statement, our government announced that $57.6 million is being invested over the next three years to add an additional 225 nurse practitioners in long-term care.

As I said, Madam Speaker, I want to speak a little bit about my own particular riding of Sault Ste. Marie. Within my hometown, all of this funding amounted to an additional $2.8 million for staffing in 2021-22, and $17.2 million when we look at moving to 2024-25. Some of the specifics we have in my riding: a wonderful long-term-care home, the Ontario Finnish Resthome. That home this year alone received additional funding of $549,000, and $980,000 looking over next year, and by the time we get to 2024-25, we’re talking about over $1.3 million. It didn’t stop there, Madam Speaker. The F.J. Davey Home saw a funding increase of $3.2 million this year, $5.8 million over the next year and over $8.1 million by the time we get to 2024-25. This is a significant investment in long-term care. These large numbers we speak of translate into large numbers within every one of our ridings—every one—so that residents across all of Ontario receive the care and the dignity they deserve.

I want to speak next about a key pillar for our plan to fix long-term care across the province of Ontario and to address the tremendous wait-list that was left behind by the former government, who built a measly 600-plus beds.

Interjection: Wow.

Interjection.

I have seen the fruits of our government’s work in my riding of Sault Ste. Marie. Moreover, the people of Sault Ste. Marie have seen it. I believe that is why they saw fit to send me back to this House on June 2.

The Ontario Finnish Resthome Association was allotted 68 new beds and the redevelopment of another 60 beds. But we didn’t stop there. Extendicare in Sault Ste. Marie saw an allotment of a net new 20 beds and 100 redeveloped beds.

But Madam Speaker, something I’m so proud of: I wanted to ensure that I speak to you in my last moment here about the great work that our community has done, that our government has done, of not having a one-size-fits-all approach, but working with long-term care in a way that is culturally appropriate for the communities we represent, and in partnership with our Indigenous communities.

In March 2021, I was so proud to announce that we received 96 new beds for the Batchewana First Nation long-term-care home.

Then, in April 2022, I was able to join Chief Jason Gauthier of the Missanabie Cree First Nation to announce an additional 192 new beds for Sault Ste. Marie, and I was proud to be able to have a groundbreaking celebration with Minister Mulroney in Sault Ste. Marie for that newly established centre.

In my final seconds, I want to say that we have created 376 new beds, 160 redeveloped beds—all in all, just about as much as the Liberal government created in eight years—and that was in one riding in the province of Ontario, Madam Speaker, something I am very, very proud of.

With that, I will conclude, and I thank you again for the opportunity to address the House.