Since 2018, we’ve actually had 1,800 new physicians practising in the province of Ontario. It’s not enough, and we need to do more. And we are doing more. In the short term, we’ve already directed the College of Physicians and Surgeons to expedite, review and, ultimately, approve and license internationally educated physicians who want to practise in the province of Ontario.

Of course, with Bill 60—if the member opposite supports Bill 60, she will see that there is an as-of-right that allows physicians who are practising in other Canadian jurisdictions to be able to begin practising in Ontario immediately while their licence is transferred to the CPSO.

We’re doing so many things, and I’m very happy to share some of the longer-term plans that we have in the supplementary.

We’ve had the largest expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate education in over 10 years, and that is before we opened two new medical facilities in Scarborough and in Brampton.

We are absolutely seized with understanding and actioning what we see. We see an increased and aging population in the province of Ontario.

You have a government that is making the plans and implementing the plans to expand all health care practitioners, not just physicians.

Meegwetch to the member from Nickel Belt. I know that in northern Ontario and northwestern Ontario, in the riding of Kiiwetinoong, physician services are very important. I know that if you’re a fly-in First Nation that has less than 1,000 people, you’re entitled to five days of physician services per month. That’s 60 days of physician services. Out of those five days are two travel days, so you’ve actually got three physician days.

There’s a group called Sioux Lookout Regional Physicians’ Services Inc. They provide physician services in the whole north, including the hospital. I know you spoke about the medical school seats that haven’t opened up, and I see at the same level how a few years ago, they were funded to have 54 FTEs for physicians. At that time, they only had 18 full-time. How can we better the physician services in northwestern Ontario?

Well, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine saw the light of day in 2007. In 2007, when they took their first students, it was a Liberal government that was in power, and since then, since 2018, we’ve had a Conservative government. I would very much like to be able to tell you I’m proud that we got elected a New Democratic government in 2007, but we didn’t.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is very important. It’s something that the people of the north had been advocating for for a long time. It is a success. It’s something that we are proud of, but it is something that is ready to expand. They could do way more than what they are doing now to help keep people in northern Ontario healthy, to give them equitable access to health care services. What they need is financial commitment from this government to do so, not just nice talk. But the money won’t start to flow for way too long.

The model is excellent. Many other communities would like to have a nurse practitioner-led clinic. Coniston, in my riding, would like one. Capreol would like an extra nurse. Southwestern Ontario needs an extra nurse because there are physicians retiring and they’re ready to help them. None of that is in the—

We are being gouged. The government could stop this right now by making sure that we regulate the price of gas, like they do in many other provinces. This will make sure that the people who I represent—

Thank you to the member for Nickel Belt for her comments. I was so pleased to hear, as the member from Brantford–Brant has already pointed out, how many things the member from Nickel Belt agrees with that are in the budget, especially a lot of the health care things that we’re doing. I know that she wants things to be done faster. We’d all like things to be done faster. But the northern Ontario medical school, for example, was something that the Conservative government came up with when Tony Clement was Minister of Health, based on the Australian model, and I’m pleased that she’s delighted with that. We’ve certainly added physician positions.

It does take time to make a new physician. What I’d like to ask the member is, if she cares about having more physician positions and is in a hurry, why did her government eliminate positions for training physicians when they were in power?