Ontario Hansard - 30-November2009

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I am privileged again to rise tonight to debate another bill, and I'm very, very pleased to be able to do that.

Interjections.

Bill 179 is an interesting piece of legislation. Of course, it was introduced last May. It not only went through first reading last May; it also went through second reading. Here we are six months later in third reading. A lot of work has indeed been done, and a lot of work, we must remember, took us to this place. While the first two readings of Bill 179 went through this chamber and then to committee, the entire Ministry of Health was sidetracked by something called eHealth, the $1-billion waste of money. A boondoggle is what it's called by the taxpayers of the province.

While that happened, of course-someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this probably went through two or three Ministers of Health before this bill was finally completed. I'm pretty pleased to be able to say that my colleagues in the official opposition-under the leadership of Tim Hudak and also Christine Elliott, our health critic-will support this bill.

But as my colleague Christine Elliott will say, the devil is in the details, and our support for this bill is qualified. Why is it qualified? There's a series of reasons that she has outlined here. As with all things, she does believe that the purpose and intent of Bill 179 and its many provisions are sound. She also believes there are many opportunities lost in Bill 179 that were either overlooked or ignored by legitimate concerns of several health care professionals, meaning that many options to make significant positive change have not been realized. My colleague used the term in her remarks, "the devil is in the detail."

If you look at-

My colleague from Willowdale says the devil is in the Tories, which I resent. I actually think the Speaker should demand that he apologize. He refuses to because that's how they decided to debate the Progressive Conservative caucus: through slander and through insults.

One of our biggest concerns in 179 has been echoed by several health care professionals, just like eHealth was echoed by Ontario taxpayers. Of course, Bill 218, the HST bill, is echoed by Ontario taxpayers.

One of those big sections was 24 of the bill and its amendments to the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991. The government's amendments add a new statutory official under the act known as college supervisor. Subsection 5.0.1(1) provides that "The Lieutenant Governor in Council may appoint a person as a college supervisor" on the recommendation of the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. This allows the government to appoint a college supervisor on the recommendation of the minister when the minister deems it appropriate, and how and for how long the minister sees fit to fulfill duties assigned by the minister.

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Now, in committee, we were advised by the minister's parliamentary assistant that this provision was intended to ensure that, "The supervisor will be appointed in cases where the college has failed to carry out a request made by the minister." With all due respect, the mandate of the professional college is not to carry out the wishes of the minister.

But that's when we all must rewind the tape and look back at what has happened from May throughout the summer of scandal that the McGuinty Liberals had and see that everything in the health department was done as a result of what those ministers wanted-whether it was right for Ontario or not. We've only have to look at some of the scandals with eHealth, the political direction there and the fact that Mr. McGuinty actually hand-picked Ms. Kramer to sit as the CEO of eHealth. We must only look at the fact that Alan Hudson was his own personal health adviser. We must not look very much further to find out that some of the key players in the eHealth spectacle were former assistants to the previous Minister of Health.

Indeed, the mandate is to carry out the wishes of the Minister of Health. We, on this side of the House, are very concerned with that, given their lacklustre performance over the past six years. In keeping with the theme of undermining the power of the colleges, the measure that was introduced without consultation-and without consultation, I might add, is why my colleague from Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington and my other college from Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound are standing here today to make a public point. Peaceful-

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It's peaceful. They're making a peaceful demonstration within a chamber of democracy. They're choosing to sit here and protest the draconian measures of this current government.

But let's get back to Bill 179, because in keeping the theme of undermining the colleges without consultation, the government's change to the Regulated Health Professions Statute Law Amendment Act has raised serious concerns for the College of Nurses of Ontario and the Ontario Dental Association, the College of Dietitians of Ontario, the College of Chiropodists of Ontario and others. After hearing the heated opposition to the provision, we in the Progressive Conservative caucus introduced an alternative in clause-by-clause review, which represented a compromise between the government's motion and the concerns of the colleges. This proposed amendment would have provided safeguards against government intrusion into the affairs of colleges and mitigated the impact of government interference.

Again, I think it speaks to the pattern that has developed over there, this pattern of behaviour where it's "Do as I say," direction from the minister which is obviously coming from the Premier, and public consultation be damned-talk to the stakeholders and the taxpayers and the patients of this province only after this legislation has been passed and its negative effects have been seen. Rather than do the right thing and fulfill its obligations and commitments to the people of the province of Ontario, they are abusing their power.

Bill 218: they are refusing to hold public hearings. More than that, we've had Bill 218 on the books for less than three weeks, yet old Bill 179 has been withering out there for six months with first reading back in May, second reading back in May, and here we are, six months later, presumably only because they've been dealing with the crisis at eHealth and the $1 billion that they flushed down the toilet that was intended for patient care. We're back here; we're dealing with this legislation now. But we're not dealing effectively with HST. That's why my colleagues from Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound and Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington are holding a peaceful demonstration within the Ontario Legislature tonight. That's why the PC caucus is united in its resolve to support them. And that's why we're going to continue to fight tooth and nail for these guys to do the right thing: actually hold adequate public hearings on legislation and make sure that you do your due diligence-not just introduce something, forget about it and six months later deal with it, and not just introduce it within three weeks and limit public debate. There has to be a happy medium. They have never found it.