I have to assume that the member opposite is referencing some nurse practitioner-led clinics that are charging patients for a membership. As we have said repeatedly, there is a loophole in the federal Canada Health Act that we are actively engaged with the federal government on to close that loophole.

It is important for all of us to understand that publicly funded OHIP-covered services, as protected within the Canada Health Act, continue to be offered using your OHIP card, not your credit card. That’s what we will fight for on this side of the House.

Respectfully, Speaker, I must say as we talk about expanding multidisciplinary teams, what do the NDP want to talk about? They want to talk about administration.

I want to see primary care expansions where you see physicians, where you see nurse practitioners working together with dietitians, with mental health workers, with registered nurses, with PSWs to make sure that, whatever care you need in your treatment journey, you have access to it.

Primary care, multidisciplinary teams are where we need to be to ensure the people of Ontario get access to the care they need, and 78 new and expanded opportunities came forward when we made those announcements in February. You go to the Davenport organization that is receiving an expansion and tell them that you do not support multidisciplinary teams.

You know, the NDP’s motion is a stark reminder of what they want to focus on. They want to focus on administration expansion; we want to focus on multidisciplinary teams.

And to suggest that the health system had been adequately looked after under an NDP government, which cut by 10% the number of medical positions that were available in the province of Ontario—the Liberal government of the day that cut medical seats available for students in Ontario—we are expanding primary care. We are expanding medical schools in Brampton and in Scarborough. We have in the Northern Ontario School of Medicine over 100 additional medical seats available to students who want to practise in northern Ontario. We are getting the job done, after many, many years of neglect from the previous governments.

You have to have the facts, Speaker. What is happening is we have active engagements with the Ontario Medical Association to say, “Show us where we can do better. Show us where we can make changes” and an administrative—

I also want to remind the member opposite that we have over 5,000 pharmacies across Ontario—more independents, actually, than brand franchises—and they have been an incredible partner to ensure not only vaccine rollout and access in all communities across Ontario, but also ensuring, with the expansion of scope of practice for pharmacists, minor ailments. In January 2023, we brought in changes to scope of practice for pharmacies, and that has led to over 700,000 people who have gone to a pharmacist and been treated for their minor ailments.

We are making a difference because we are empowering all of our primary care practitioners, all of our physicians, all of the multidisciplinary teams that work in the health care sector to make sure that they are training and practising at their highest scope of practice.

Speaker, I can’t believe the member opposite is suggesting that we should be taking over every single pharmacy in the province of Ontario. These are business owners who are working in the health care field that are providing exceptional service for the people of Ontario—800,000 people have accessed service in their community pharmacy since January 2023, and the member opposite is, what, suggesting that the government should be taking over pharmacies? Come on. Can we start actually thinking about how convenience in care and access to care is an important piece of our health care system?

Every single time we bring forward initiatives and investments that are going to improve access in your community, you vote against them. It is beyond belief, frankly, that the NDP motion that is calling for more administration isn’t saying, “We support and agree with a tripling of the primary care expansion,” from our original announcement when we made it in Your Health.

To suggest that 78 primary care expansions of multidisciplinary teams is not going to make a difference in the province of Ontario is, frankly, individuals living in an alternative reality.

And, Speaker, why can we do that? Why can we continue to invest in health and continue to expand the health care budget? Because we have an economy where people want to live and grow their business in the province of Ontario. When you have those opportunities, you see expansions that can happen under Premier Ford’s government. We are making those investments—50 capital expansions in the province of Ontario. There is more work to be done, and it cannot be solved overnight after decades of neglect, but we’re getting the job done.

They should be excited about the 78 primary care multidisciplinary teams that have been announced in February and are now actively recruiting. We’ve seen some of that information coming forward, and it is literally game-changing for the people who have to date been unable to access primary care physicians in the province of Ontario.

The multidisciplinary team, where you are working together as a team, not as independent clinicians, makes a better patient experience, and, frankly, it is what clinicians want to work with. They want to be able to have the opportunity, when they diagnose a patient with diabetes, to be able to transfer them to another member of the team, a dietitian, perhaps, to go over what that impact is on their lives. The multidisciplinary team approach is something that is very well documented to be a proven success story, which is why we have expanded them by 78 additional teams.

Gloria’s story is, frankly, the exact reason why we have seen what happens when you don’t ensure that you have sufficient health human resources, when you cut seats in medical schools, whether it was 10% under Bob Rae’s government or 50 medical seats under the previous Liberal government. That’s what happens. You have a constricted supply, and we’re changing that.

We are rebuilding the system to make sure that, for decades to come, we have sufficient individuals who we know want to practise in the health care field in the province of Ontario. And now, we’re expanding with medical schools in Brampton and in Scarborough. You know, Speaker, in September 2025, we will have medical students starting to train in Brampton for the first time in the province of Ontario.

So we will make those investments, and I hope the member opposite is not only sharing those expansions with her constituents who clearly want to be connected with the primary care multidisciplinary team, but also supporting these in votes in the chamber so that she can show her constituents that she is also on board and onside to expand primary care in the province of Ontario.

I’ve looked at the oppo day motion for the NDP and I have to say it concerns me that they are suggesting that the Ontario Medical Association is not the appropriate place to make sure that we work collaboratively with them on paperwork and ensuring that they are in front of patients.

When I see the expansions that are happening in Hamilton and across your region, what are you telling your constituents when I see that the Greater Hamilton Health Network primary care stakeholder council has a new primary care multidisciplinary team as a result of February’s announcement? Those are on-the-ground impacts that will make a difference in your community and communities across Ontario.

We need to ensure that everyone who wants a primary care physician has the opportunity to do that. And the only way we can do that is through expansion of medical seats, expansion of all—