A 30% rate of profit is quite an extraordinary return. Can you talk about how it is that they’re able to secure such a high rate of return on this service?

My thanks to the member for her presentation. At the beginning of her comments, she noted that a lot of what is driving this is concern that services be made available to people who are in remote locations who may not be close to major medical centres.

I just want to note that last year, the payments to doctors for doing remote and virtual consultations were cut dramatically, so that many doctors have now abandoned that. Talking to my friends from the north, their experience has been that those arrangements allowed people for the first time, for many of them, in their lives to access a doctor quickly. Why did you cut that support for virtual consultations while you are espousing support for greater access to medical help?

My question is to the Minister of Health.

Yesterday, the Minister of Health was asked by journalists whether the government is considering further privatizing our health care system. The minister said that the government is exploring all options.

Is this government looking to the private and for-profit sector to take over health care services that are currently publicly delivered?

Again, to the minister: Reliance on private health care providers will plunge our public hospitals and health care systems deeper into crisis. Bill 124 is draining staff from the public system, and private staffing agencies are gouging hospitals.

Will the minister allow private health care companies into Ontario, siphoning doctors, nurses and health care workers out of the public system?

Again, to the minister: Private corporations have a financial responsibility to generate profit. That’s a direct conflict of interest with their responsibility to offer affordable, accessible and high-quality care, regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.

Does the minister think patients should have to start paying for care they now receive as of right?