Speaker, following the lead of my colleague from Hamilton west, I’d also like to welcome Erik Schomann, Donna Deneault and Verne Deneault from Save Our Water Tiny township, and the Thomas Moore from Simcoe County Kairos. Welcome to the Legislature.

I just want to note that I think I fully understand now what the health strategy is for the Conservative Party. We saw yesterday, with the information about people having their eye examinations reduced, that obviously people with problems are going to have to pay. I now can see where the future is.

When people go to hospital for a hip replacement—you’ll go in, and there will be a menu at the door that will say, “Hip replacement surgery: covered by OHIP; anaesthetic, extra. What’s it worth to you? Post-surgery recovery: nurse prices vary—but for free, we’ll pin a note on your gown saying, ‘They just had surgery. We urge you to be cautious.’ Hallway: free, but to get into a room, you’ll have to pay extra.”

Speaker, that’s where we’re headed. The sleight of hand, the shell game with this government is, they’ll cut the services; they’ll cut the services; they’ll cut the services. You’ll get something or other covered by OHIP, but everything else will be like an American hospital, where you pay for each juice and each Aspirin. You will be skinned.

I urge people to reject the direction this government has taken, because we know it will be a disaster for the health care of the people in this province.

My question is to the Premier. Right now in Ontario, people are being asked to pull out their credit cards to pay for health care. The Auditor General has found that for-profit clinics are pressuring people to shell out thousands of dollars for OHIP-covered services. Why does the Premier think it’s okay to force people to pull out their credit cards to access health care in this province?

Last week, this government had a chance to crack down on predatory fees in health care. Instead, this government voted down an NDP bill to stop for-profit clinics from charging for services people should be able to cover with OHIP. Is the Premier refusing to crack down on these predatory fees because it would foil his plans to privatize our health care system?

Why is the Premier opening the door to much bigger bills for patients and much longer wait times in pain for everyone else?

Speaker, as you know, children in Ontario are facing a health care crisis. Public health officials are saying that we should be masking indoors to protect our children. The Premier and his government are not following that advice, but they are telling others to follow it. It seems like a classic case of “do as I say, not as I do.”

Is the Premier going to be a leader and mask up indoors or not?

There is so much more this government needs to do to address the crisis that our children face. We need an ambitious flu and COVID-19 vaccination push. We need an advertising blitz to encourage people to mask up and get vaccinated. We need 10 paid sick days so that people can stay home when they’re sick. We need government members to show personal leadership. Will the Premier step up today and lead on these critical public health initiatives?

Will the Premier be a leader and act on the recommendations of the medical officer of health or not?

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. Our children’s hospitals are overwhelmed. Parents are worried. They’re anxious about their sick children. Yesterday, the Chief Medical Officer of Health strongly advised all adults to wear masks indoors to protect our children. The Premier said he will take the advice of the medical officer of health. Why is the Premier not taking leadership and wearing a mask to protect our children?

What is it going to take for the Premier to show leadership and actually act on the recommendations of the medical officer of health?