Health committee  There's no question that there are bottlenecks in being credentialed from an international medical graduate perspective, and this is something that comes up quite commonly in our discourse as we think about a health human resources strategy for the future. An international appr

Health committee  Absolutely. When we think about Canada health transfers and the fact that shared spending is now sitting at close to 22%, at least in the province of Ontario, it simply isn't good enough. That's why we've called for an increase. It's why we stand in solidarity with all of the pre

Health committee  Absolutely. Those are very astute questions. Let me take the first one, which is whether we can use and leverage technology innovation. Can we scale up and level up in this country our ability to deliver service—i.e., health care services—to the people who need it at the time th

Health committee  Unfortunately, we know that smaller problems become larger problems. People have been waiting for a variety of different care. It could be primary mental health and psychiatric services. It could also extend to cancer screenings, of course, such as colonoscopies and mammograms. I

Health committee  I think it's a hard question to answer because it is highly regionalized. You might not need a dermatologist in downtown Toronto, but you might need one in northern Ontario. It really is matching supply and demand, and need, with the appropriate service to be provided. Generally

Health committee  Well, I wish I had $6 billion in my bank account. It would be a lovely dream to be able to have that. As for where we think investment is required, we obviously think about the backlog of service that unfortunately expanded during COVID and now exists for a shocking number of 21

Health committee  This is an important issue because, as most people on this call and in this committee know, physicians have to self-fund their pensions. Unlike other public service workers, there is no pension for physicians. This is a huge problem for our profession broadly. It is also a challe

Health committee  Sure. Thank you so much for the question, Dr. Hanley. Given your expertise in your area, I know this is something that's germane to not only your understanding but also the understanding of the committee. Obviously, we need to have an international strategy for health human reso

Health committee  Thanks for the question, Dr. Ellis. It's a very important question as far as health resources are concerned. The first thing we need to do is stop the exodus in the profession by shoring up what health care resources we have right now in terms of physicians spread across the pro

Health committee  Absolutely, and thank you for the question. It's an important one. As far as health human resources are concerned, you [Technical difficulty—Editor] with what we said earlier. A million people in the province of Ontario don't have access to a family doctor. We expect immigration

Health committee  That's no problem at all. I totally understand.

Health committee  I will.

Health committee  Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Adam Kassam. I'm president of the Ontario Medical Association. I am joined by Dr. James Wright, chief of the OMA's economics, policy and research department. On behalf of Ontario's 43,000 physicians, residents and medical students, thank you for th