Ontario doctors awarded 10% pay increase in 1st year of new deal

An arbitrator has awarded Ontario's doctors a nearly 10 per cent compensation increase for the first year of their new physician services agreement.

The province is in the midst of negotiations with the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) for the four-year agreement, but an arbitrator was tasked with setting increases for the first year, while the two sides work on the 2025-2028 period.

The OMA had proposed a five per cent general increase plus 10.2 per cent as a catch up to account for inflation, while the government proposed three per cent.

Arbitrator William Kaplan concluded that while the OMA's target was unprecedented, the government's suggested three per cent was "completely unrealistic."

Kaplan wrotethat other health-care workers like nurses have received far more for the same time period, and they do not have to pay the overhead costs of running a practice out of their compensation, as doctors do. He awarded a three-per-cent general increase plus a "catch up" of 6.95 per cent.

The Ministry of Health's arbitration arguments angered doctors, as the government wrote that recruitment and retention of doctors was "not a major concern" and there was "no concern of a diminished supply of physicians."