SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Laura Smith

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Thornhill
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Centre Street Square Unit 4 1136 Centre St. Thornhill, ON L4J 3M8
  • tel: 905-731-1178
  • fax: tre Street Sq
  • Laura.Smith@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page

I think everybody in this room can agree that we want the best possible outcomes for our communities. And I’m very proud that near to my community, there’s going to be a York University medical school in Vaughan. This is a major step to create a goal, to create the doctors of tomorrow, because it’s going to be concentrating solely on physicians that are going to focus on family practices.

So I’m going to ask the member if she would support that, in favour of the doctors of tomorrow, alongside us.

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I listened to the member and, like her, I’m interested in our most vulnerable. I think the member from Mississauga Centre talked earlier about our heartfelt interests in our most vulnerable, which are our seniors. They’re a crucial part of our communities. They’ve helped build this province.

One of the things that our government did was expand the Ontario Guaranteed Annual Income System program to provide more supports to seniors across this province. I was just wondering if the member would support that, given she does care about the seniors, who are our most vulnerable.

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Our colleagues know very well that enabling water systems is key to housing and a critical part of the construction process. This budget allows for a system fund of $200 million to $825 million over three years, which is quite substantive.

I’m just wondering if the member will stand with our government to support these endeavours so we can get building going.

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Through you, Speaker: I listened to the member from Humber passionately speak. I appreciate what he brought to the table—but he brought something that was very interesting to me. He talked about health care.

This government is acting quickly to alleviate the pressures facing health care systems in our province—one of which is going to be built: a health care system, a teaching facility right adjacent to a hospital at Cortellucci, which is just about 10 minutes north from where the member from Humber is, and it’s just a few minutes north from where Thornhill exists.

This creation of a new medical school in Vaughan is a positive step forward—retaining more doctors in the midst of family physician shortages. This is exactly the kind of action that this province needs to take in order to continue building healthy communities in the future.

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I appreciated the member on the other side’s comments. I really appreciate her passion for her community in Barrie–Innisfil. She talked about Lake Simcoe and her love for her community.

Building healthy communities is something that our government has put a lot of effort into. Our government is investing over $200 million with the Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund. I’m just wondering what kind of impact that fund will be on the people in not only Barrie and Innisfil, but also Ontario as a whole.

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I was kind of moved by the member’s statement on building system and supports and infrastructure, and the fact that his mother was a crisis counsellor.

So I used to work under the child protection act, and he talked about the independent legal clinics and the CYAC, which protect our most vulnerable. I was just wondering what these investments and the supports and the improvements to the court will have on the future generations of those victims?

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Through you, Speaker, I know the member and every member in this room is concerned about the cost of living, but support for seniors is such an important issue. And I’m sure the member realizes that we all have people in our communities that need help and deserve our support as they grow older.

So, there are many ways, for crucial parts of the communities, we need to be there to provide for that. My question to the member is simple. Will you support the government’s expansion of the Ontario Guaranteed Annual Income System program to provide more support to our seniors?

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