Thank you to the hard-working member from Don Valley North for the question and for his advocacy on behalf of internationally educated health care workers.

This government is breaking down long-standing barriers so that health professionals can work here in Ontario, no matter where they come from. These changes will finally bring more internationally educated health care workers into our health care system faster, helping to care for Ontarians when they need it. So far this year, through our Supervised Practice Experience Partnership program, over 900 internationally educated nurses have been matched with hospitals, and in total the college of nurses has registered 5,848 internationally educated nurses.

Working in partnership with the College of Nurses of Ontario and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, these changes will support our record-breaking, historic recruitment plan and make it easier and faster for health care professionals to be trained in Ontario.

The important changes that will come into effect immediately include allowing internationally educated nurses to register in a temporary class and begin working sooner while they work toward full registration; making it easier for non-practising or retired nurses to return to the field by introducing flexibility to the requirement that they need to have practised nursing within a certain period of time before applying for reinstatement; and creating a new temporary independent-practice registration class for physicians from other provinces and territories, making it easier for them to work up to 90 days in Ontario.

Additionally, even more changes will come into effect on January 1, including requiring health regulatory colleges to comply with time limits to make registration decisions, prohibiting health regulatory colleges from requiring Canadian work experience for the purpose of registration, and accepting language tests provided under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to reduce duplicate language-proficiency testing for immigrants who want to practise here.

Together, these changes are going to help make sure we have the health care workers we need in Ontario.

I haven’t seen the letters you referred to, and I can’t speak to the minister’s schedule, but our government does understand the unique health care challenges in the north. We’re committed to ensuring that everyone in Ontario has access to the health care that they need.

While physician supply across Ontario is projected to consistently exceed population growth—leading to an average annual net increase of approximately 581 physicians each year until 2029—we know that there are still some northern communities that have trouble recruiting and retaining doctors, which is why our government is investing in initiatives to help improve access to physician services across the north.

This includes, for example, $32 million this year for residents’ salaries and benefits, medical education and training, allied health professionals and remote First Nations family residency programs at the northern Ontario medical school.

We’ll continue working to make sure everyone in Ontario has the health care that they need.