Thank you to the member opposite for the question. Our government has recognized that the status quo was not working and that more needs to be done, and that is why we launched our Your Health plan. We’re taking bold and innovative action to eliminate surgical backlogs, reduce wait times for publicly funded surgeries and procedures. That plan is working.

We want to have a strong home and community care sector as a key part of our plan, and we want to make sure that these resources are available across the province, including in northern Ontario. That’s why recently, as the minister said yesterday, we’ve announced new interprofessional primary care teams in the north, including in Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and others. So we’re making sure that the care is there for the people who need it.

We passed legislation recently to further modernize the home care sector, integrating it with our Ontario health teams—Ontario health teams that are also being established in the north. Ontario is taking steps to have integrated care coordination, flexible care planning and delivery and needs-based care. We’re not focused on hours of delivery. We’re focused on patients, and we’re going to make sure that they get the care they need in the north and across Ontario.

For over a decade, the NDP propped up the Liberals as they cut medical residency positions, cut the number of physicians practising in family health teams and cut access to care, creating the longest health care wait times in Ontario’s history.

That’s why, one year ago, our government introduced Your Health, a comprehensive plan to make bold, innovative and creative changes to strengthen all aspects of our health care system, making it easier and more convenient for Ontarians to connect to the care they need closer to home. And we’re already starting to see results: We’re moving on over 50 hospital developments, including Niagara. That will add over 3,000 new hospital beds to the 3,500 we have already added since 2020—adding more beds in four years than the Liberals added in 14 years.

Ontario currently leads the country with over 90% of people connected to regular health care providers and we have added hundreds of medical residency positions specifically for family doctors across the province, but we can do better to improve access for people in Ontario not connected to primary care. That’s why, on February 1, the minister announced an investment of $110 million to connect over 300,000 more people to primary care teams. This will add over 400 new primary care providers as part of 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams, and these teams will help people currently without a family doctor connect to primary care.

Together with Ontario’s largest expansion of medical school spots, while breaking down barriers for internationally trained doctors, Ministry of Health modelling shows that all of these initiatives together will connect up to 98% of people in Ontario to primary care in the next several years. We won’t stop until we get it done.

For over a decade, the Liberals, supported by the NDP, underfunded the health care system, closing hospitals and hospital beds, firing nurses and cutting medical school residency spots. Our government inherited a health care system under pressure due to failed policies of the previous Liberal government.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government has made record investments in health care. Since 2018, we’ve increased the health care budget by over $18 billion, investing $80 billion into the system in this year alone, and the total health care budget in Ontario is the same as that of almost every other province and territory combined.

Continuing their legacy of not supporting health care across the province, the Liberals and NDP constantly vote against our investments and bold innovative action by this government. We’ve seen an increase in new nurses and new physicians registering and starting to practise, and we’re going to make sure that we get it done for our hospitals across Ontario.

We’ll continue to support and work with our hospital partners who deliver convenient care to patients close to home.

It’s a pleasure to stand in the House today and take part in the debate about Bill 13, the Northern Health Travel Grant Advisory Committee Act. Frankly, it’s nice to hear that there’s a Liberal member who has accepted that the north is not just a no man’s land that people shouldn’t pay attention to, that it’s important, so it was nice to hear that from the member opposite.

This proposed legislation seeks to establish yet another advisory committee to have further discussions, while our government is taking decisive action to improve the health care system for northern families. That’s what we’re focused on for families in the north and for families across Ontario. We know that patients can’t afford delays or more talk or endless committees and that it’s time to get it done for families in northern Ontario and across Ontario, and that’s exactly what we’re doing, while ensuring that all of our health care initiatives are actually delivering care to patients. That’s what we’re here for. While the opposition and independent members continue to be all talk or all about talk, our government is busy getting it done.

Speaker, many residents of northern Ontario live in communities that have less than 2,500 people, are dispersed across a vast geographical area in our province and may need to travel longer distances to access specific types of health care services. The province currently provides eligible patients with financial assistance, helping defray medical-related travel costs that residents of northern Ontario incur to access certain health care services. This financial assistance is based on travel that is required to access a medical specialist or ministry-funded health-care-facility-based procedures when they are not available in their local communities within a radius of 100 kilometres.

Speaker, the Northern Health Travel Grant is an important element in the delivery of equitable health care services to northern Ontario residents. In 2022-23, the Ministry of Health reviewed more than 178,000 applications for financial assistance, with the ministry providing almost $45 million in financial travel assistance to more than 66,000 residents of northern Ontario. In 2023-24, the ministry’s funding allocation for the Northern Health Travel Grant Program is more than $48 million, and the ministry regularly reviews its programs, processes and procedures to support ongoing quality improvement and support a sustainable system for the future.

The ministry has enhanced the accommodation allowance and has established payment delivery through electronic bank deposits, providing more convenience for residents, and the program’s call desk works with applicants who submit incomplete applications to help them with missing information. We have streamlined the administrative process for ODSP clients, and work continues to improve the program, including developing an online application program for applicants. Additionally, the program has a medical appeals committee through which external and independent medical advisers review appeals and claims with exceptional medical circumstances.

Speaker, our government is making health care more connected and more convenient, and providing Ontarians with a better health care experience at every stage of life, no matter where they live in the province. We continue working hard to implement our plan to improve access to health care in northern communities by supporting medical education in the north and training more physicians to work in northern communities.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is being provided with additional medical resident training positions to ensure an ongoing supply of physicians in the north. The Northern and Rural Recruitment and Retention Initiative helps patients receive primary and specialist care closer to home, offering assistance to close to 130 communities, providing financial recruitment incentives to an eligible family physician or medical specialist who establishes a full-time practice in an eligible community.

Through the Community Commitment Program for Nurses, between 2022 and 2024, over 650 of the nurses placed with employers in need have been hired in northern Ontario, and in northern communities, the Emergency Department Locum Program has provided supports to eligible hospitals to assist with 24/7 emergency department services. The Emergency Department Peer-to-Peer Program is also supporting emergency department physicians in northern, rural and remote communities through access to immediate, on-demand and real-time coaching and support via virtual channels from experienced physician peers.

The government is also reviewing and expanding Ornge air ambulance’s fixed-wing fleet from eight to 12, with a new state-of-the-art aircraft, as well as a new larger Sudbury air base to house the additional four aircraft, ensuring it can continue to provide safe, consistent air ambulance services, which are especially important for northern communities.

We’ve invested in annual operational funding for new MRI machines in northern, rural and smaller communities, and our government made changes to allow pharmacists to treat and prescribe medications for 19 common medical ailments, including UTIs, pink eye, cold sores and acne, for example. More than 700,000 assessments have taken place over the last year, with 94% of Ontario pharmacies participating in this initiative, including many across northern Ontario.

These are just a few examples of how our government is actually taking action to provide more connected and convenient care and supporting the health care needs of people in northern Ontario.

We know that there are different health care challenges in various parts of the province and understand how important it is to have a regional voice on these matters. Ontario Health regions will continue to work and consult with local communities, and our government will continue to listen—and I must say, we have listened here today to what our colleagues have shared with us today. We want to work closely with those on the front lines of our health care system, as well: our doctors, nurses and other care providers. This is an essential part in determining how best to provide care and meet the local health care needs of northern families where and when they need it.