Progressive Conservative leader John Tory promised that if he is elected premier on Oct. 10, he will personally fly to U.S. cities to convince Canadian doctors to come back to Ontario.
That's one of the steps he said he will take to solve the province's doctor shortage, especially in eastern Ontario, where he said only 1 in 25 doctors is accepting new patients.
The others measures include:
- Spending $400 million a year to let medical students defer their loans if they stay in Ontario.
- Getting retired doctors to work a few days a week.
- Recruiting doctors from the U.S.
"There's no more urgent priority to be addressed than to get on with doing some of these things so you stop these doctors from leaving and get some of the others to come home," he said Thursday while on a tour with stops in Kingston, Trenton and Cobourg.
In Kingston alone, 20,000 people are without a family doctor, Tory said.
Tory blamed Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty for the shortage, accusing him of failing to address the issue during his four years as premier.
McGuinty says half a million more people in Ontario now have family doctors, compared to when he was elected in 2003.
The Liberals argue that Tory won't have much money to spend on health care if he phases out the health care premium, as he has promised to do.
But Tory said money isn't the only thing that will lure back doctors who have left the province.
"I think there's a powerful magnet that comes from offering people the opportunity to come home," he said.
"If they're from Ontario and their parents are here and perhaps aging, if their families are here, their own childhoods were spent here, they were educated here, I think that's powerful."
According to the Ontario Medical Association, around 9,000 Canadian-trained doctors work in the U.S.
With files from the Canadian PressRelated
Internal Links
Ontario Votes 2007 »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
District Profiles
More Ontario Votes Headlines »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
