Ms. Lisa MacLeod: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Welcome back. I wanted to thank the member for Timmins-James Bay for his spirited comments. That's one thing we can always count on from him: bringing the perspective from his constituency to this chamber.

I want to pick up on something he mentioned, which appears to be a province-wide crisis in long-term care. We remember, as our new colleague from Nickel Belt pointed out, that the Liberals had told us they were going to revolutionize health care back in 2003. Then what did they do? They placed a little bit of bureaucracy in the way of hospitals. We have now got a crisis in my own city, the city of Ottawa, where there is bed blocking going on; surgeries are being cancelled and we are short approximately 250 long-term-care beds.

There has been no acknowledgment by this government that there needs to be more private investment into the public delivery of health care so that we can actually free up those beds. There has been no acknowledgment by this government that we must assist seniors in staying in their homes longer, whether that's through additional recreational facilities or whether or not it's through other programming they can take advantage of. It's working with our veterans to ensure that those people who fought for our freedom so that we have the ability to stand in this chamber are given the respect they need to stay in their homes that much longer.

As I end on this note, I again want to congratulate my colleague. It's wonderful to see him back here in the 39th Parliament. I look forward to discussing other matters of great importance that are shared among many of us here in this chamber throughout our various ridings. Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to debate.

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L'ONTARIO

Monday 17 March 2008 Lundi 17 mars 2008