Thank you to the member opposite for raising this question prior to question period. I want to be clear with the people of Ontario that we are not eliminating or forcing individuals to close virtual care clinics. What we are doing is we are equalizing to make sure that people have access to their family physicians in person.

It is a change that we have negotiated with the Ontario Medical Association, who took it to their members and voted on it in support. I might add, it’s the first time since 2012 that we have had an agreement with the Ontario Medical Association without the need for arbitration. This is a good system of balancing the need for in-person care with the important use of virtual care.

The member opposite raises an important issue, but there are other opportunities, like community health clinics, that provide specialized service. Those types of services will continue within the province of Ontario, because we understand how specialized services offer unique opportunities for people who have special skill sets to work with a specialized population.

We’re continuing to do that, but we need to reinforce that having individuals access their primary care physician in person, as well as virtually, is an important part of how we provide appropriate care in Ontario.

We are absolutely investing in these innovative practices, but I have to say, it’s a bit rich—it’s a bit rich—to come from a member representing this party. The previous Liberal Premier admitted that they did not invest appropriately in health care and long-term care—in fact, eliminating 50 residency positions—while we have continued to expand, through health school expansions, the first historic expansions in Brampton and Scarborough, and the first expansions in medical schools in northern Ontario since—wait for it—a previous Conservative government.

So are we investing in innovations? Are we taking those ideas that are coming from our health care professionals? One hundred per cent, we are. I will take no lessons from this party on how—

We are making those investments in the short, medium and long term, and I would like to think that, at the end of the day, they will understand that these investments, which should and could have been done 10-plus years ago, are now being done under Premier Ford and our government.

Hyperbole is never going to replace facts in this place or in Ontario. For clarity, what we have is, Hamilton Health Sciences have worked alongside and through the innovative partners at Niagara Health and Mohawk College to establish a credentialing program that enables various existing members of the health care team to gain competencies required to practise as operating room technicians and attendants. These HHS team members include medical device reprocessing department techs, health care aides and support workers. This is part of the innovation that Hamilton Health Sciences proposed and we funded.

Hamilton Health Sciences spent a lot of time working with their partners like Mohawk College to make sure that they can additionally skill existing staff members who are working in the system. We continue to see this kind of innovation making a difference, because we know that there are so many incredibly capable health human resources who are working in the system and want to improve it, unlike the member opposite.

There is no doubt that paramedics play a vital role in our health care system. We have done some innovative things in the last number of months that are highlighting exactly what the member opposite is referencing: the dedicated off-load nursing program that we have put in place, investing over $23 million to ensure that hospitals that wish to hire a dedicated nurse off-load position can do so, so that paramedics can more quickly get back out onto the road and into our community. The 911 changes that we have made to ensure that paramedics, with patient approval, can take that individual to somewhere other than an emergency room, whether that is a mental health facility, a long-term-care facility, has really made a difference. We are making those investments because we see that we have an excellent workforce that really understands how, at their core, we can assist patients in our communities.