My question is to the Premier. Ontario’s health care crisis is getting worse by the day. Over the last week alone, there were overnight and weekend closures at Chesley hospital, Durham hospital, Walkerton and St. Mary’s, which was closed for a week. And just this morning, the Kemptville District Hospital announced its ER would be closed for the next six nights.

Doctors and front-line health care workers are very clear: This is a staffing crisis, and forcing seniors into private long-term-care homes is not going to solve that crisis. Why is the Premier saying no to front-line health staff who want to solve the staffing crisis?

Will the Premier start taking steps today to address this crisis, starting with a repeal of the disastrous Bill 124?

The Premier talks about the status quo. There’s nothing more status quo than Conservatives privatizing health care. Asking nurses and health care workers to accept cutbacks and pay freezes has been the status quo that this Premier has created. Public hospitals need proper funding and resources to maintain quality of care and to maintain safe working conditions. Nurses and health care workers need support, not wage freezes.

How many ERs have to close before this government gets it?

My question is to the Premier. Records from Ontario Health show 1,400 people died while waiting for surgery last year. That’s a 43% increase compared to pre-pandemic years and a 30% increase over just a year before. When lives hang in the balance, why is the Premier refusing to invest in recruiting, retaining and respecting health care workers?

The staffing crisis is costing people their lives. Why is this government planning to spend money on privatization that will bleed even more staff from our hospitals?

We have a hospital staffing crisis. Privatization would siphon staff out of our hospitals and send them to a for-profit system. Why is this government planning to spend money on privatization that would make the hospital staffing crisis even worse?