Dear OMA Negotiations Team, We are a group of Ontario physicians who would like to present our collective concerns with the ongoing unilateral cuts made by the MOHLTC. We are fortunate to have you, the OMA, advocating for us at this critical juncture. The current situation will shape Ontario’s health care climate for years to come. We agree that the Ministry’s ongoing pattern of arbitrary funding cuts, the hard cap on physician services, and the looming threat of claw-backs is immoral, exploitative, and unprecedented. This situation affects physicians in every discipline, at every stage of practice. We recognize and applaud the OMA’s efforts to educate our members and the public about what these cuts mean, and the consequences that we as a society can expect. We appreciate that the OMA has tried, time and again, to work with the MOHLTC to come to an agreement that allows physicians to provide the care that is necessary in a manner that acknowledges these difficult and uncertain economic times. At this point, however, we need to do more. We feel that the OMA is in the unique position to be able to mobilize and guide us in emphasizing to our members, to the public, and most of all, to the Ministry that we will not be ignored any longer. We need to come together with a campaign that makes patients realize that their care truly is at stake. At this point we would like the OMA to seriously consider various means of job action. This could take many forms, and we wish to do it in a way that does not compromise patient safety or access to care, but that does ‘get the word out’. Some ideas that have been proposed are a version of a work to rule campaign, a mass vacation of short duration, or a temporary ‘one issue per visit’ policy. We have never aspired to provide patient care that is just ‘good enough’, and our goal will always be to do our best for our patients. However, if we continue to feel devalued and disrespected, we will no longer be able or willing to go above and beyond to provide the exemplary care that we strive for. We need to be heard, and the OMA is our voice. Thank you.