To the Minister of Health: Last week, I talked to Ms. Gulnar Visanji, who is constituent of mine. She called me because she suffers debilitating spinal pain and her pain specialist said, “You need surgery.” She tells me she has not been able to even get on a waiting list with an orthopedic surgeon. Surgeons tell her they have waiting lists two years long and there’s no point in taking her name.

Why won’t the minister help her and others to avoid this kind of unnecessary suffering?

My question for the Premier: According to Dr. Michael Warner, the OR at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto dropped to using just two out of 10 operating rooms at 4 p.m. That’s eight operating rooms sitting empty for more than 12 hours per day.

Why is the government choosing to send surgeons, nurses and funding to private, for-profit clinics while operating rooms in our hospitals sit idle?

Why is this government refusing to use the operating room, CT and MRI capacity we already have?