I’m not that surprised that this motion is being tabled. I am, however, questioning its validity. I thought that the committee organization and membership was to be discussed at the procedure and House affairs committee, so I would definitely request that this be clarified and if this motion is actually in order or out of order.

I agree with the petition, will affix my name to it and give it to page Erwin to bring it to the table.

It’s an honour to rise in the House to deliver this package of petitions with some 4,006 signatures, added to the 10,797 that were brought in September, for a total, with other petitions as well—there have now been 38,622 signatures asking this government to reopen the Minden ER.

Just about a year ago, on June 1, 2023, without notice, the emergency room in Minden was closed, and this has caused a number of problems. The main one is that the nearest emergency room is 20 minutes away, and so people have to travel in an emergency situation an extra 20 minutes by road, often in the winter.

What this petition is asking is that—they’re saying this closure is jeopardizing lives, and they are asking this government to reopen the Minden emergency department as soon as possible in order to save the lives of the residents of Minden and the surrounding community.

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and pass it to page Armaan.

This petition is about transgender. This petition is about the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, which was funded by both the federal and provincial ministries of health. It describes how patients who presented themselves to the institute for help with transitioning were then subjected to the harmful practice of conversion therapy and treated as seriously mentally ill sexual deviants.

The close to 3,000 people who signed this petition are asking for the Legislative Assembly to issue a formal apology to all transgenders who were subjected to this mentally tortuous process.

I’m presenting a petition from ACORN Canada entitled “Petition for Full Rent Control.” This is so important to be heard now at this time of absolutely unaffordable rents paid by tenants across all of the province and certainly in Humber River–Black Creek.

This petition asks this government—in fact, demands the government—to apply rent control to all units, to end vacancy control and, certainly, to close the loophole that allows for excessive rent hikes above annual increases.

It’s an honour to sign this, and I’ll be presenting it to page Duncan.

I, too, would like to present a petition today to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario calling on this Conservative government to reopen the emergency department at Minden hospital. It was closed without any public consultation. Communities need emergency rooms. If there was a life-threatening event, residents of Minden would have to travel over 20 minutes. Sometimes—it can take longer in the winter, and they do not have a local emergency room.

This petition here is signed by residents not only of Minden but residents from across Ontario, because we all understand the importance of having an emergency room in our communities.

I will affix my signature to it and join the calls from the people of Ontario to ask the government to immediately reopen the Minden emergency department.

The Ontario Works rate has been frozen for over two decades. For Ontario Disability Support Program, it has only increased by 3%, Speaker. It’s time to double the social assistance rates. I support this petition and will affix my signature to it.

I am giving a petition that now has a total of 38,620 signatures on it. It’s about the Minden hospital that close to a year ago—their emergency was closed without any notification. We’re asking to reopen it immediately and have the health minister use the power that is given to her under the Public Hospitals Act to immediately reopen this hospital and to save lives in that community.

I’ll sign my name to the petition.

I am pleased to present a petition to this Legislature that is signed by over 4,000 residents of the area around Minden. They add to the more than 30,000 total number of people who have signed petitions to reopen the Minden emergency room.

The Minden ER was one of those 1,200 emergency rooms or urgent care centres that had to close in 2023. I hear from a lot of the hospitals in my community outside London how important those small emergency rooms are to prevent people having to come into the city to access emergency care. I certainly stand with and support the people of Minden in their urging the government to use their powers to immediately reopen the Minden emergency department.

I affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Armaan.

Once again, I would like to thank Dr. Sally Palmer for sending in these petitions and her endless work on ensuring that people on social assistance in the province of Ontario have their rates doubled.

We know that people on social services are living well below the poverty line. Quite frankly, it’s legislated poverty: people on Ontario Works, $733, no increase in over a decade; for people on Ontario Disability Support Program, a very meagre increase took them to $1,308. This does not leave enough money for rent.

This petition states that there are 230 organizations that wrote a letter to the Premier and to the minister urging the government to double the ODSP rates so people have quality of life in the province of Ontario.

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I’m going to affix my signature to it and give it to page Ryder to bring to the Clerk.

It is my pleasure to join the voices of nearly 40,000 people calling on this government to reverse the decision by the board of directors at the Haliburton Highlands Health Services, where they, without any consultation with the community, closed down the Minden hospital ER. As we’ve heard from my colleagues, as we’ve heard from the people who have signed the petition, the people who are here today, this deeply impacts their community, to be forcing them to travel—it could be 20 minutes or more, depending on the weather—outside of their community when they have an urgent situation.

We know that if there is a case of cardiac arrest or other instances of medical emergencies, every second counts when it comes to saving lives. We know that because of underfunding of the publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care system, we have seen many cases across the province where hospitals in different communities are shutting down emergency departments. It is absolutely shameful that that is happening in this province, risking people’s lives.

I join those 40,000 people who are calling on the Minister of Health to use her powers to reopen the Minden ER and to properly fund public health care in this province.

I have a petition that was sent with thousands of signatures from the RNAO, the RNs of this province who are desperate for a plan to be able to retain and recruit nurses. The vacancies are—we would need 24,000 filled positions to be able to make up the difference of shortfalls that we’re seeing within our nurses and RNs, who are feeling the burnout, are feeling the stress of not having enough support on the floor of our hospitals and their workplaces to be able to keep Ontarians safe. It needs to be a priority for this government.

I wholeheartedly support this: ensuring that there are enough RNs in the province of Ontario to ensure a healthy society. I will affix my signature to it and give it to page Duncan to give to the Clerk.

I have before me 210 signed petitions that are part of over 38,000 demanding that the Minden emergency room be opened. This has been the case since June 1 of 2023, and the substance of this petition is literally life and death, because in an emergency, minutes matter. This petition demands that the emergency room be reopened. It’s the right thing to do. It is necessary and, in some cases, it’s life and death.

I’m definitely signing this and giving it to the page.

Report continues in volume B.