I meet regularly with health care providers and health care leaders in the industry because I want to hear about their innovative solutions.

The investments that we are making and the changes that we are making in the short, medium and long term truly are making a difference. Would I like to see it go faster? Absolutely, but I am not going to shy away from continually highlighting the fact that it is our government and this Premier who have made the investments in the health care system, including the addition of two new medical schools in the province of Ontario, one in Brampton and one in Scarborough—unprecedented, historic investments. The last time we saw an expansion in medical schools in the province of Ontario was with a previous Conservative government. We had a health care system that desperately needed attention—it is getting that with this government. And we will continue to make those investments.

Where was the member opposite when we were investing? Where was the member opposite when we actually put money in the budget that was going to give a $5,000 retention fee for our very, very hard-working nurses in the province of Ontario? The member opposite and his party chose not to support those investments.

Where was the member opposite when we expanded the number of residency positions available in the province so that in rural, northern and all parts of Ontario, we would have more family physicians and more health care professionals being able to practise in the province of Ontario? They voted against that.

We will continue, with our most recent budget—a $5-billion increase in the health care budget—to make those investments. I’d like to see the member opposite—

Where was the member opposite when we, through a directive, said to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, “We have internationally educated primary care physicians who want to work in the province of Ontario—we want you to assess, review and, when appropriate, license them.” Where was the member opposite? Again, they did not support these changes.

We will continue to work with all health care providers in the province of Ontario when they bring forward innovative ideas, and we will continue to fund those innovations, because we understand the people of Ontario deserve better than what they’ve been getting for the last 20 years.

Imagine, if you will: When the Auditor General’s report came out in 2012 and highlighted the shortage of family physicians in northern Ontario—they needed an additional 200 family physicians. Imagine, in 2012, when the Liberal government was in power, if we had actually actioned that highlight and that concern.

In contrast, I will point to the fact that we have now added an additional 160 undergraduate spots. We’ve added an additional 295 postgraduate positions. These are positions and opportunities for Ontario residents and individuals who want to practise family medicine in the province of Ontario. They will have that expanded opportunity in the next five years.

I am concerned that the member opposite and the party opposite weren’t calling for more action when they had the opportunity to do that in 2018 and the Auditor General was highlighting the issue.

The member opposite highlights the exact reason why, in the summer, I sent a minister’s directive to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario saying that any individuals who have been internationally educated or who have practised in other jurisdictions have the opportunity to get their qualifications assessed, reviewed and ultimately licensed, if appropriate. It is precisely why we have done some of those short-, medium-, and long-term goals—because we understand there are immediate needs in our community today, right now. We also understand that you must plan for the future—which, bluntly, previous governments did not do. We are making those investments now to make sure that this is not an ongoing problem in the province of Ontario.

Thank you to the member opposite for raising this important issue and highlighting the value that we have put, in the province of Ontario, on early detection—because we understand that early detection and ultimately treatment leads to far better outcomes.

Based on clinical guidelines established by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, OHIP currently funds prostate-specific antigen tests for men who are: (1) receiving treatment for prostate cancer; (2) being followed for treatment for prostate cancer; and (3) suspected of prostate cancer because of their family history and the results of their physical exam.

Absolutely, Ontarians who are concerned should be speaking to their primary care physicians, because they can get that test through those conversations, if the family physician clinically assesses and deems that that is appropriate.

Again, I absolutely support the member’s advocacy on early detection and having those conversations with your primary care physicians. But most international and national guidelines and recommendations—including the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, the United States Preventive Services Task Force and the American College of Physicians—recommend against screening for prostate cancer using the PSA test due to the lack of evidence.

We need to have clinicians making these decisions, not politicians. Absolutely, have the conversations with your primary care physicians, but let’s leave the clinical advice to the clinicians and the experts in the field.

I want to also acknowledge the incredible work that all of our allied health professionals have been doing throughout the pandemic, whether it was prior to vaccines, with the incredible assistance that happened—entire health care systems stepping up and making sure that Canada and Ontario were second in the world in making sure that our citizens were protected.

When will the work start? It started in 2020, when we as a government made an investment and said we are building a stronger, more robust health care system by adding an additional 12,000 health human resources. We’re doing it with investments in our colleges. We’re doing it with investments in new positions available for young people who want to be in the health care professions. We started that in 2020. We will continue to do that work.

The Premier and I had an opportunity to have a round table with the representation of nurses and the ideas coming forward. We’re now driving those forward and saying: How can we implement that? How can we add to what we’ve already done with the Learn and Stay program to ensure that young people who want to train as RNs in Ontario have that opportunity, through free tuition and books? How do we expand the opportunities so that we do not have a continuation of the backlogs in diagnostic imaging and other critically important services that the people of Ontario deserve in their communities?

We’ve done that work. We will continue to have those conversations and listen to those innovations.

I am very proud of the fact that we have health care workers in the province of Ontario who continue to give 110% because they know it’s what they can do in their community and it’s what the people of Ontario expect.