We will not tolerate clinics taking advantage of a loophole created by federal legislation, as we’ve stated in this House many times. That is why Minister Jones wrote to our federal counterparts to ensure that they prevent non-physicians from charging for publicly funded health services.

While Ontario leads the country, with close to 90% of people connected to a regular health care provider, we know there’s more to do.

As announced in the budget, our primary health expansion has expanded a total investment of $546 million over three years to connect 600,000 people to primary care.

Our government is taking bold action through our Your Health plan. We are taking innovative steps to grow our workforce to better serve the people of Ontario now and for years to come.

Speaker, we will continue to work with our health partners across Ontario to ensure that Ontario has the best publicly funded health care when and where they need it.

We started the year with a record investment of $110 million to create 78 new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams and add over 400 new primary care providers to help close the gap in accessing primary care. In this budget, we went even further. Our primary care expansion has expanded to a total investment of $546 million over three years to connect 600,000 Ontarians to primary care.

While Ontario leads the country, with almost 90% of people connecting to a regular health care provider, we know that more can be done. As I mentioned, we will continue working with our health care partners across the province to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care system when and where the people of Ontario need it.

Our government is currently investing $85 billion into our publicly funded health care system, which is a 30% increase since 2018, when we took government.

While the Liberals, propped up by the NDP, cut the residency school spots and limited the number of physicians practising in interdisciplinary teams, our government has added 12,500 new physicians since 2018, 10% of those being family physicians.

We have a plan to rebuild the health care in Ontario, and we will not stop until everyone gets more convenient access to care when and where they need it. Our government is taking bold action through our Your Health plan. And we are taking innovative steps to grow our workforce to better serve the people of Ontario for years to come.

Our government knows the status quo is not working and more needs to be done. That is why we launched the Your Health plan. We are taking bold action to eliminate surgical backlogs and reduce wait times for publicly funded surgeries and procedures. Our plan is investing in infrastructure, boosting health human resources and adding educational supports for the future. Our plan is adding thousands of hours of MRI and CT scans and more procedures, including hip and knee replacements, closer to home—all accessible with your OHIP card, not your credit card. Our plan has already reduced the surgical backlog to below pre-pandemic levels.

We will continue to work with our health care partners across Ontario to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care when and where people need it.

It took Ontario years of neglect by the previous governments, propped up by the NDP—but our government has taken action and delivered results for Ontarians. Our government is proud to have one of the largest publicly funded health care systems across the whole world—a system we’re investing $85 billion in this year. There are countless stories of life-changing impacts across the province and evidence that expanding our capacity in our health care system is creating access for more surgeries and procedures than ever before.

Our government will continue to find innovative ways to make it faster and easier for Ontarians to access the care they need, when they need it, closer to home.