Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak about some of the investments that we have been able to make in northern Ontario.

We’re investing more in northern Ontario health than any other previous government.

Our plan is investing in infrastructure, in boosting health human resources and adding educational supports for the future. We have, of course, expanded the Northern Ontario School of Medicine—over a hundred additional seats available, and 60% of those, of course, are set aside for primary care, the family doctors we so desperately need across Ontario, and particularly, acutely, in northern Ontario.

We’ll continue to make those investments because we know that when people have access to primary care multi-disciplinary teams in their communities, it makes an impact, and it ensures that people have the care they need closer to home.

I hope the member opposite will continue to advocate, but I also hope that they will acknowledge the investments that we are making in northern Ontario and across Ontario.

In fact, I think the member opposite should know that we have invested in primary care multidisciplinary teams.

Of course, in February we announced 78 new, expanded satellite opportunities—78, Speaker. Imagine what that does to the people who want to have primary care multidisciplinary teams in their community.

Clearly, our expression of interest that we issued last year was dealt with a lot of excitement—because people want to have that opportunity; communities want to have the opportunity.

That’s why I was particularly thankful that, in this week’s budget, we have announced another expansion of that primary care multidisciplinary team approach. It means that if you need to see a family doctor, you’ll see that family doctor; if you need to see a nurse practitioner, you will see that nurse practitioner; if you need to see a dietitian or a mental health worker, you will have that opportunity. It is exactly what clinicians across Ontario want, and it is exactly what we are providing, as a province, with our new investment of $356 million.

The expansion that we are seeing in Brampton with the new medical school, in Scarborough with the new medical school, and, of course, Tuesday the announcement that was lauded across Ontario, the York medical school, that will focus on primary care practitioners—those are the investments that are going to make an impact in our communities.