Page 23 - Sports Energy News, Cornwall, Issue No 125
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www.sportsenergynews.com                                                                 Issue #125 June 2023                              23



                            Stormont-Dundas-South                                                      Stormont-Dundas-South

 On June 2 , Elect                   Glengarry MPP                                                               Glengarry MP
 nd
 Nolan                                         Interview                                                               Interview


 Quinn                                MPP Nolan Quinn                                                                  with
                                                    with



                                                                                                                       MP Eric Duncan




            ecently there has been a lot of chatter around Bill 60 and fear around a
 NolanQuinn.ca      1-866-477-9477                                                        $27 Million in “Performance
        Rthreat of a 2 tier health care system. My offi ce and I have been receiving
        misinformed claims that our government is trying to create a system where   Bonuses” to Housing Gatekeepers
        patients will have to pay for treatments, which is untrue.                                      is Just Wrong
           I would like to quickly summarize what Bill 60 is being put in place to
        accomplish. Bill 60’s purpose is to bring the approximately 700 independent    fter eight years of Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government, the average down
        health facilities across Ontario integrated into our existing health network,   Apayment needed to buy a house has doubled to a staggering $45,000. Monthly
        which will mandate public accountability for these facilities. As it stands   mortgage payments have doubled to over $3,100. In 2015, the average price of rent in
                                                                                   Canada for a 1-bedroom apartment was $973 and today it has reached $1760.
        today, should you utilize these facilities for a nonemergency surgery and
        you are up-charged for a consultation or an unnecessary upgrade, you as the   Nine of ten Canadians looking to buy their first home have given up the dream

        patient would have no oversight body to register a complaint with. When Bill   of home ownership because they can’t afford the price of rent, while trying to save
        60 is enacted, the patient would, in this situation, have the option to register   for the massive down payments that are now required. If they do manage to save
                                                                                   enough for a down payment, new homeowners now face skyrocketing mortgage rates,
        a formal complaint with the Ombudsman. Bill 60 would also see a “Patients
                                                                                   because of interest rates caused by massive Liberal deficits; a “double whammy” hit

        Bill of Rights” enacted, clearly posted, and enforced, upon these independent   at the worst time possible for Canadians.

        health  facilities.  Bill  60  would  also  allow  for  a  more  efficient  delivery  of   The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is the federal agency
        nonemergency surgeries, for example with cataracts, and total hip and knee   responsible for creating reasonably priced housing in Canada. Their performance in
        replacements. Instead of tying up a hospital bed for a day surgery by a surgeon   recent years has been a failure, to say the least. The CMHC says we need to build 5.8
        who may only complete 3 of a single procedure per day, it could be more    million new homes by 2030 just to keep up with demand. Simply put, demand for new
                                                                                   homes is not keeping up to anywhere near the actual number of new builds in Canada.
        efficiently  done  in  an  independent  facility  that  specializes  in  a  handful  of

        procedures where surgeons are completing 20 or 30 procedures a day.          The CMHC data for January 2023 showed new housing starts were at the lowest
                                                                                   level since 2020, down 52% in Toronto and 14% in Vancouver. As a country, we have
          Our government has been working extremely hard to address the shortage   the lowest number of housing units per thousand residents of any G7 country, and this
        of nurses, physicians, and other health care professionals in our health system   shortage of supply is driving up prices on all types of homes.
        here in  Ontario. Since Covid,  we  have  seen  too  many  hospitals  with  staff   By every objective measure, we are in a housing crisis in every part of Canada, and
        shortages, and a number of older physicians retiring, with replacements being   the CMHC is failing miserably on their own targets to deliver homes for Canadians.
        few and far between. Our government has put a focus on promoting health      To add insult to injury, we recently found out that federal bureaucrats at the CMHC
                                                                                   received over $27 million taxpayer dollars in “performance bonuses” just last year
        care as a career path for young Ontarians, and have put in place a “Learn and   alone. To clarify, this is not $27 million in base salaries, but rather in extra bonuses

        Stay Grant” to not only encourage young people to enter the health field, but   on top of regular wages and benefits. 2,100 employees received a $12,000 bonus on


        to commit that once they are certified that they will stay here in our system and   average, and we also found out that 100% of CMHC executives got a performance
        not leave for another region. With that, unfortunately, it takes 3 to 8 years to see   bonus in the last two years.
        the results, but in the interim, when Bill 60 is enacted, Ontario will become the   Given the disastrous state of housing in Canada, it begs the question: just how low
        first province in Canada to enable healthcare workers currently registered on   is the bar for performance at the CMHC?

                                                                                     At a time when housing starts needs to double or triple from the current pace,
        other provinces and territories to immediately start providing care in Ontario.  the CMHC is instead overseeing a stunning decline in housing starts.  To give
          With all the partial and lack of information on Bill 60 that is floating around,

                                                                                   “performance bonuses” to CMHC bureaucrats with these results is incredibly out of
        there will no doubt be some skepticism, and challenging legislation is part of a   touch with the reality facing too many Canadians. Furthermore, it is insulting to those
        health democracy, which is why all legislation is discussed, debated, and more   struggling to buy their first home, and reasonable Canadians would likely agree that

        than not are sent to committee for comment before it is passed. If you still have   CMHC performance bonuses should be tied to performance and to the number of
        lingering questions, please feel free to reach out, I would be happy to address   homes built.
        any and all concerns around this, and any legislation past, current, or present,   Rather than making the housing crisis worse, we must address it with real solutions.
                                                                                   We need to free  up federal  lands  and  buildings,  speed  up building  permits, and
        in Ontario.  The premier and health minister have been clear since day one,
                                                                                   withhold federal funding from cities that refuse to get shovels in the ground and get
        Ontarians will always pay for health services with their OHIP Card and not a   Canadians into new homes. A Conservative government will do exactly that and bring
        credit card.                                                               homes Canadians can afford.
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