My question is to the Premier. OPSEU/SEFPO Local 5115 workers, the front-line workers of the Regent Park Community Health Centre, are on strike for fair wages. This government is starving public health care. Their wages were frozen by Bill 124 during an affordability crisis.

These health care professionals are doing some of the most difficult work in this province, literally at the epicentre of a poisoned drug supply and opiate overdose crisis. Despite all of this, they continue to show up for our communities, doing that hard work. Will this government show up for them in today’s budget and fund public health care so that they can get back to work and receive the fair wage they deserve?

Real, honest Ontarians like Kirsty Millwood, who actually is in the chamber today to listen to this debate—she is a front-line foot health worker and the president of OPSEU/SEPFO Local 5115. She tells me, “We need funding for community health care centres. We need to provide critical services. We keep people out of hospitals. We save lives daily.”

We lost so much because of Bill 124, Speaker, but they continue to show up for work. Now is the time for the government to stop forcing them out of their jobs because they are living with unlivable wages. Will this government properly fund community health care centres at the health care rate of inflation?

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. To quote the executive director of Victim Services of Durham Region, “Publicly funded prescription birth control will help empower survivors experiencing gender-based violence and human trafficking. Access to birth control is life-saving.”

Speaker, the lack of access to birth control is used by abusers and perpetrators of human sex trafficking to control their victims. Birth control is much more cost-effective than health care or even the therapy that we owe the survivors after freeing them from sex trafficking if they are pregnant.

Does this government agree that universal access to contraception will give survivors more control over their bodies and lives and help combat sex trafficking?

My constituent Lorrie’s best friend urgently needs an MRI, but hospital wait-lists are now months long. She called an advertised for-profit clinic and was told that for $795 she can get an MRI within 48 hours. This entirely contradicts the Premier’s promise to Ontarians, which is that they would never have to pay for health care with their credit card. Why did the Premier break his promise?

Blythe, a constituent and a health care professional, asks, “Why are we paying taxes for health care when the government consistently underspends by $1.6 billion? The Premier must stop giving his friends pay raises and fund our public health care system.”

Will the Premier listen, then take action, stop Bill 60 and finally stop privatizing the people’s public health care?

Interjections.

To the Premier: My constituent Janice complains that the surgical wait times are simply too long in Ontario. She shared with me a BC government website which publicly lists specialists as well as surgical wait times—a very convenient tool.

Since the Premier won’t keep his promise to eliminate surgical backlogs, five years after he was elected to do so, will he at least do the very minimum, which is to create a surgical wait time portal for Ontario patients, just like the one the BC government has created for their residents?

Let me just rephrase this: The BC NDP government has created a central system for faster referrals. Their residents can go online and see exactly what they need to see and get that information in a timely fashion.

This Conservative government scrapped the local health integration networks on the eve of a global health pandemic, and under this government there are now more private, for-profit companies charging for similar services. This is a disaster for Ontarians.

Why does this government insist on making health care worse and more expensive for Ontario residents?

Last week, Uganda passed a deadly law criminalizing LGBTQ+ people. On Sunday, at an emergency meeting with 150 people, I heard first-hand about the homophobic violence.

Until March 31, Ontarians without status have access to health care because of the province’s Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons program.

Will the Premier please listen to the Ontario Medical Association and reinstate health care for undocumented people, set to expire in three days?

Today is the last day this government can choose to save Connect-Clinic, the only virtual clinic in Ontario dedicated to delivering gender-affirming health care. An alternative funding plan could save the clinic. They are commonly used in academic, northern and specialized health care settings already. Connect-Clinic checks all three boxes.

Tomorrow, 3,500 trans Ontarians will lose access to life-saving care. And I cannot stress this enough: They will have nowhere to go for this specialized care.

Losing virtual health care does not only affect patients in the north or rural areas of Ontario; I’ve heard from my own constituents in Toronto Centre who are reeling at the loss of virtual health care.

My constituent Andrew shared, “My partner and I are among 1.8 million Ontarians who don’t have a family doctor. We’ve registered multiple times for the Health Care Connect and contacted doctors’ offices with zero responses to date. My partner and I have just found out that we’re expecting a baby. So this weekend we booked a virtual appointment to be referred to an ob-gyn. If this service is no longer supported after December 1, we would lose access.”

Speaker, this government brags about their embrace of innovation, and yet they’re throwing away that same innovation that enables virtual care.

Funding cuts to virtual health care will not all be replaced with in-person appointments—they’ll be replaced with Ontarians without access to health care.

I urge this Conservative government to change course.

My question is to the Premier. In two days, on December 1, the Connect-Clinic, a virtual-only health clinic, will have to close its door entirely to its 3,500 trans patients who live across rural and urban Ontario. These individuals need gender-affirming health care.

Connect-Clinic’s lead physician and founder, Dr. Kate Greenaway, wrote to me: “Because of the changes to the physician services agreement, we will no longer be able to provide our life-saving care. We are expecting to need to close the clinic in response.”

Speaker, will this government help save the clinic? Will they help deliver the alternative funding plan that’s needed to stop the cut to ensure that gender-affirming care continues in Ontario? Yes or no?

Although the physician services agreement is finalized, this government must reverse the funding cuts to Connect-Clinic through an alternative funding plan. It’s an option before the government.

I’m looking for an answer. We have two days to save this clinic. We have two days to save this health service. Will the government help us do this?

My question is to the Premier. I know that he has arrived, so his timing is perfect. Because—

Interjections.

Because of the changes to billing that are coming under the physician services act that will come into effect on December 1, 2022, physicians like those who are actually practising at virtual-only care clinics such as Connect-Clinic will have to stop delivering gender-affirming care. Gender-affirming care, as many will know, is life-saving care—care that Connect-Clinic’s 1,500 patients, as well as 2,000 wait-listed patients, will then lose access to by the end of this month. Many of those patients live in rural communities. They are without access to a family doctor. Many of them are actually reliant on virtual care; it’s the only access to care that they have.

Will the government commit to an alternative funding plan in order to meet the needs of trans and gender-diverse people in Ontario?

My second question is to the Premier. The patients waiting for gender-affirming care want a concrete answer; they’re hoping to have it today. Yesterday, I tabled a private member’s bill, Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act. This House, on numerous occasions, and previous governments, have actually created working groups, advisory committees, round tables to inform the government on their work. It actually helps them build better programs and services and legislation for the people of Ontario. Will this government support that bill? Will this government stand for the trans and gender-diverse community? November 20 is the Trans Day of Remembrance. It’s coming up. Many of the members will be attending those events. Will you be able to pass this bill today?

It’s my honour to introduce Lawrence Chan, a 22-year-old newcomer and refugee from Hong Kong. He is now a member of the Toronto Centre riding association family.

My question is to the Premier. Michelle Hurtubise, at the Centretown Community Health Centre, recently told the CBC that people have to wait more than two years for an appointment at her clinic. It’s the only one in her city that specializes in trans health.

Does this government believe that waiting two years for a primary care doctor is acceptable? What is this government going to do to help trans Ontarians access gender-affirming health care?

We all recognize that gender-affirming health care is life-saving health care and, during the last Parliament, my predecessor, Suze Morrison tabled the Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act, a bill that I’m looking to re-table, with wide support from everyone in this House.

Will this government commit to helping all Ontarians, including trans Ontarians, by ensuring that they support the gender-affirming health care act when I re-table the identical bill?

Understanding consent requires action, awareness and accountability. Only 28% of Canadians fully understand the meaning of consent.

Through this bill, Ontario will be the first jurisdiction in Canada to recognize and adopt Consent Awareness Week.

“Whereas safety inspectors at the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) help ensure the safety of Ontarians by inspecting amusement park rides, food trucks, elevators, fuel-burning equipment, propane-dispensing stations, boilers and pressure vessels in our schools, hospitals, long-term-care homes, nuclear power plants and more; and

“Whereas TSSA safety inspectors have been bargaining for their first collective agreement since November 2021, and when the employer walked away from the table were forced out on strike on July 21; and

“Whereas TSSA safety inspectors are fighting for improved accountability for public safety standards and practices, wages and benefits that are consistent with industry standards, measures to address understaffing issues and improve retention and recruitment and be a stronger voice in the workplace; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario, including the Premier’s office, is responsible for protecting public safety and ensuring that provincial agencies such as the TSSA bargain with their employees in good faith.

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—intervene to ensure that the TSSA stop its stonewalling, return to the bargaining table and negotiate fairly with OPSEU/SEFPO Local 546 TSSA members to reach a deal;

“—ensure that newly unionized employees have automatic access to first contract arbitration should they want it when bargaining reaches an impasse; and

“—commit to labour policies and legislation that are actually working for workers and advance a decent work agenda for all working people in Ontario.”

I proudly affix my name to this petition, and I will return it to the centre table with page Juliet.

My question is to the Premier. I was recently written a letter from one of my constituents. They actually provided, quite honestly, some very sad news. They received some communication from their medical health care provider, their primary doctor, who is actually asking them to find a new doctor after 17 years of being their primary physician. What the doctor said to the patient was that his workload is untenable, it’s unmanageable, and that he has to reduce the workload. So out of a randomized system that’s set out by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, they’ve selected 262 patients—anonymized—and they sent out the same letter to those patients telling them to find a new doctor in their neighbourhood. That represents a reduction of 40% of patients in that clinic now.

My constituent went about asking community members for referrals and none of them were able to help them. The medical care professionals said to them, “We’re not taking new patients.”

What will this government do, what will the Premier do, to stop this dumping of patients by medical professionals because they can’t manage the workload? What can you do for my constituent and the—

What is the government going to do to address the current health care crisis? What do I say—what do we all say—to this particular constituent or to an Ontarian who is looking for a family doctor? What do we say to the other families that are looking for primary care professionals? We are in a health care crisis, and I don’t think this government is taking it seriously. We need help; our constituents need help. What can you do to help them today?

Back to the Premier: With respect, the question that I had was really about what you are going to do in the next 24 hours.

My constituent further invites all of us to consider this: Reflect on what it would be like to be unable to breathe during every single breath that you’re drawing. Please think about what it’s like when your lungs are filled with water. Reflect upon that.

Speaker, no one in Ontario hospitals should have to experience that agony because they’re waiting for an urgent procedure.

My question again is, will this government listen to health care professionals and implement the solutions that are needed to address the health care crisis and this understaffing crisis in our hospitals?

Another constituent of mine, Gregory, needs urgent abdominal surgery. But because of the surgical backlog that we have already heard a lot about, he was told to find a doctor outside of Ontario, never mind outside of the city or in another neighbourhood. He called my office to say this: “Do they really think someone in my condition is ready to try to find care outside of the province?”

Speaker, health care workers have told the government how to clear the surgical backlog: Hire 30,000 nurses, repeal Bill 124, and fund public health care at the rate of inflation. Will the government put these recommendations into action or are they really just setting up the excuse for privatization?

My question is for the Premier.

Just two days ago, I received a letter from a nurse in my riding. He shared a story about one of his patients: “My patient has fluid filling up his lungs, and he is less able to” breathe. His oxygen is not coming “into his body with each passing day.

“It is not exaggerating to say that he is drowning slowly. He needs an urgent procedure to remove the fluid.”

This should have happened last week: “This was scheduled for last week—it has yet to happen” because of the staffing shortage.

My question: What will the government do to help this suffering patient in the next 24 hours, and what will they do in the next 10 days to alleviate this staffing crisis that we see in our hospitals?