It’s nice to finally be back. My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, perhaps the most important priority any government should have is the health of the citizens that it represents, and a critical element of maintaining good health is regular access to your family doctor or other primary care professionals. Right now, here in Ontario, there are 2.2 million Ontarians without access to a family doctor. That’s almost 15% of the population, and it’s up from 1.8 million just a few years ago. Too many of our neighbours, parents and grandparents, fathers and mothers, don’t have access to primary care. Too many children don’t have access.

We’re hearing a lot of talk about big plans to reform the health system. What we haven’t heard is how this is going to help Ontarians access primary care. So what is the Premier’s government going to do to ensure that these 2.2 million Ontarians can access the important and often life-saving care from family doctors, nurse practitioners and other front-line health practitioners?

I look forward to the proposal being brought forward for a community health centre. There is no doubt that we have seen a very successful model where clinicians—whether they are dietitians, mental health workers, nurses, nurse practitioners or physicians—coming together in those multidisciplinary clinics actually works very well, so I look forward to that proposal.

But I have to ask, with the greatest of respect: Did the member opposite vote for or against building two new medical schools in the province of Ontario? Did the member opposite vote for or against capital investments of over 50 new or expanded hospitals? Did the member opposite vote for or against when we actually have expanded primary care clinics and nurse practitioner-led clinics? Did the member opposite vote for or against? I know the answer.

This legislation will support the implementation of the Your Health plan by first establishing a new legislative framework to support the expansion of surgical surgeries in the community. It will also enable Canadian registered health professionals to practise in Ontario immediately, without waiting for registration with the relevant college. It will allow pharmacists to independently initiate prescriptions based on the pharmacist’s own assessment of a patient’s health when providing medication therapies. And, finally, it will enhance privacy obligations for external data indicators and facilitate safe interaction of de-identified health administrative data across the system.

MPP Andrew moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 61, An Act in respect of the tax treatment of psychotherapy services provided by certain practitioners in Ontario under the Psychotherapy Act, 2007 / Projet de loi 61, Loi concernant le traitement fiscal des services de psychothérapie offerts par certains praticiens en Ontario en application de la Loi de 2007 sur les psychothérapeutes.