Of course, we’ll look into that. I know, in my own riding, we had a drive-through vaccination clinic which worked very well.

The COVID pandemic really highlighted the failure of the previous Liberal government to do anything about health care. The reason we had some of the longest lockdowns in North America is because the Liberals left us with such a crumbling, decaying health care system.

And do you know who supported them every step of the way? It was the NDP. In 2011, the Liberals cut the health care budget when the federal government increased it by 6%. Do you know who supported them? The NDP. In 2012, the Liberals cut funding to small hospitals in rural areas across the province of Ontario. Do you know who supported them? The NDP. In 2013, the Liberals cut medical school admissions. Do you know who supported them? The NDP. On every—

Interjections.

But it’s really telling that the member for Ottawa South is yelling, because while he was here and he supported the previous Liberal government that year after year after year cut health care funding, supported by the NDP, this is a member who was an absolute failure when it came to delivering for his own community. Do you know who’s rebuilding CHEO, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario? It is this government. While that member sat there and supported a government that built no long-term-care homes in his own community, it’s this government which is building more long-term-care homes in his own riding than they built province-wide.

In late 2021, COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in the Kingston area with the Omicron variant. An enterprising local doctor, Elaine Ma, ran a drive-through mass vaccination clinic. Community members, like my own daughter, volunteered to help. Thousands were quickly inoculated during a critical couple of days. That’s why I was shocked when I learned that OHIP asked Dr. Ma to pay back its $600,000 reimbursement. Why? OHIP said because shots were given in the St. Lawrence College parking lot, not in her office.

Mr. Speaker, this is a follow-up to a letter to the minister’s office that I sent several months ago: Does our government have the backs of doctors who think out of the box and take the initiative to protect us during health emergencies? Would the minister intervene and override OHIP’s action and offer a fair solution?

Dr. Ma followed the rules, the steps to qualify her mass clinic under the prescribed G, Q and H billing codes and OMA billing practices for mass clinics. She is being punished for no good reason.

The Minister of Health has the power to conduct post-payment review. Will she intervene today? Will she set a healthy precedent so that in our next public health emergency, doctors who take the initiative to protect us in good faith can count on support from the system?

Interjections.

I was so happy that the member had a chance to talk about the wonderful nurse-practitioner-led clinic that she has in her riding. Hers is one of the oldest ones, but the oldest one is in Sudbury. We had the very first nurse-practitioner-led clinic in Sudbury.

My question to the member has to do with: All 25 nurse-practitioner-led clinics in our province have asked for extra staff so they can help the 2.2 million Ontarians who don’t have access to primary care. The nurse-practitioner-led clinic from Thunder Bay is one of four that has received confirmation that they will be getting a little bit more money. Do you think that this will help with the thousands and thousands of people in Thunder Bay that don’t have access to primary care?