One of the things that we continue to do, I say to my honourable colleague, is that we continue to increase our levels of funding for health care in Ontario. Notwithstanding the fact that Inflation went up by about 11% since we first formed the government, we've increased funding for health care by about 45%. In this particular budget, notwithstanding the fact that we anticipate that the economy will shrink by 2.5%, we are increasing funding for health care by 4.7%.

It has been said that a budget is more than just a financial statement; it is a statement of our values. I think we are clearly demonstrating, through our budget, that we highly value health care for our families in Ontario.

Again, I can say that I have confidence in the people working in our hospitals and our broader public health sector and all our doctors and all our nurses. Again, I want to remind my honourable colleague that we have made considerable new investments in health care, a 45% overall increase in health care funding, notwithstanding the fact that Inflation only went up by 11%. When it comes to public health alone, we have nearly tripled funding levels, from $233 million to $680 million.

There's always more to be done, but we've got to live in the real world. The real world calls for us to demonstrate our continuing commitment to health care, and I think we've done that in a very measurable and demonstrable way.

HOSPITAL FUNDING
Mme France Gélinas: Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Today, people from rural and small-town Ontario are demonstrating on the front lawn of Queen's Park because of what's happening to their local hospitals. My question is simple: Can the Premier tell me why Ontario has small and rural hospitals?

I welcome the question. First, I want to say that one of the questions that I've been asked is that we index the original $100,000 to Inflation. Had we done that, 70% of the people on the list would not, in fact, be there. The reason that I've said no to that is because we believe-but, more importantly, families believe-that $100,000 is a lot of money.

We also believe in transparency, and that's why we have, notwithstanding the approach brought by the previous Conservative government, through the sunshine law now uncovered OPG and Hydro One salaries to make sure that those are public. We're proud of the work that our public servants do for us, but we also feel a heavy responsibility to ensure that they are paid in keeping with the ability of Ontario taxpayers to pay them.

Again, we're trying to bring a balanced approach on this side of the House. We have been cutting taxes, but when we do that, we don't get the support of the opposition.

They tell us that we should have only spent at the rate of Inflation. If we were to have adopted the approach that they are now advocating, that we should only have raised our investments, our new expenditures, at the rate of Inflation, we would have spent $17 billion less. That would have meant that, in health care, we'd have 10,000 fewer nurses today, we'd have 1,794 fewer doctors today, we'd have no family health teams-that means 200,000 fewer patients being seen-and we'd certainly have no new nurse-practitioner-led clinics. That's what they are advocating.

They like to play with numbers, but they don't like to talk about the consequences on people. Over here we bring a balanced, thoughtful approach. We continue to cut taxes, we continue to invest in the services-

I have a great deal more faith in the wisdom of individual Ontarians to pursue the kind of training that is going to lead to good jobs for them and their families. What the leader of the official opposition is proposing, to take it to its logical conclusion, is that we put in place some kind of a regulatory process that determines which industries are specifically going to grow and would hold employment opportunities for some and which we should not be funding.

I can tell you, if you are 42 years of age and you've lost your job in forestry or lost your job in manufacturing, you've got grocery bills that you've got to pay, you've got rent or you've got mortgage payments that you've got to make, when it comes to considering what kind of a job training opportunity you're going to pursue, you're going to be very, very sober-minded about making that kind of decision. I place my confidence in the ability of Ontarians to make that kind of a call. It's not a call for our government to make.

LONG-TERM CARE
Mrs. Elizabeth Witmer: My question is for the Premier. Four years ago, your minister tearfully promised a revolution in long-term care, plus you promised an additional $6,000 in funding per resident in personal care. Now, not only have those promises been broken, but then your minister further insulted these residents by saying that he was going to wear a diaper to see if the product was appropriate.

Premier, the problem is not the diaper, the incontinence product; it is the fact that staff don't have enough time for preventive incontinence care, and this budget from yesterday isn't going to help that situation. I ask you, how are our homes going to be able to maintain the staff and the programs they currently have if there's no increase in the operating per diem for Inflation, wage adjustments and other operating cost pressures?