PC leader Patrick Brown, PC candidate Raymond Cho and Dr. Douglas Mark are seen at a press conference at Mark's office on August 10, 2016.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has introduced Ontario’s big, divisive doctor fight into the byelection campaign — by making a political pitch to newcomers in Scarborough that they will be disproportionately harmed by the government’s plans.

Brown and Raymond Cho, the party’s candidate in the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection made a campaign stop at the Scarborough office of Dr. Douglas Mark Wednesday morning.

Mark is the interim president of DoctorsOntario, one of the groups fighting with the Ontario Medical Association and the Ministry of Health over the tentative Physician Services Agreement reached in July.

Brown told voters in immigration-rich Scarborough that the plan “does not take into account new Canadians,” “has no funding for newcomers,” and is “particularly problematic in areas like Scarborough.”

“Here we are in Scarborough, one of the most culturally diverse areas of Canada. And we’re asking physicians to do their job with no funding for newcomers,” Brown said. “The dream around the world is to come to Canada and people wait years, and fight to come to Canada. And we’re saying, ‘Come here, and we’re not going to care for you.' ”

Brown said doctors’ moral codes make them want to care for sick patients, but they can’t. “What Eric Hoskins and Kathleen Wynne are saying is we’re not going to allow you to, we’re not going to fund you to care for that patient that’s sick. And frankly that’s deplorable," he said.

However, the agreement does not single out newcomers; nor does it deny care to newcomers. Citizens, permanent residents and landed immigrants would remain covered by OHIP and doctors would continue to be paid to treat them.

Whether the agreement includes adequate funding to cover population growth from immigration is a considerable point of debate among doctors. The agreement includes a 2.5-per-cent increase in the physician services budget each year, “to pay for the health care needs of a growing and ageing population and the (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s) share of the cost of net new physicians.”

While the OMA and the ministry says those increases are enough to fund growing demands on the health-care system, those who oppose the agreement contend it will be inadequate and, because of that, doctors will be forced to work more for less money, or close their clinics.

Brown also criticized the government for long waits for long-term care homes, for dragging its feet on upgrading Scarborough’s hospitals and underfunding hospitals to the point where operating rooms sit empty while patients wait for operations.

“Why is Scarborough again forgotten?” he said.

Brown said a PC government would fund physicians rather than bureaucracy, and wouldn't waste money on scandals.

Mark endorsed Cho in the byelection. “The Liberal government has to go,” the doctor said. “It’s wasted millions, if not billions, in taxpayers’ hard-earned money with its gas plants, electric power scams and other scandals. The Ontario PC Party led by Mr. Patrick Brown is the solution.”

As leader of DoctorsOntario, Mark has engaged in health-care activism against the Liberal government. Last fall, he organized a job fair aimed at helping Ontario physicians get jobs in the U.S., in response to government clawbacks of doctor pay. In the spring, he called for doctors “to begin shutting down the system," by refusing to take advance appointments, closing on every other Wednesday and sending newly-pregnant patients to their MPP’s office rather than providing them care.

That's something the minister's communication staff was eager to point out:

@brownbarrie Isn't he the person who advised doctors to refuse to take on pregnant women as patients? https://t.co/70leTHQh0D #onpoli

— Maria Babbage (@mariababbage) August 10, 2016

In the debate over the tentative Physician Services Agreement, members of the dissident doctor coalition, including DoctorsOntario, have lauded Brown. For example, at Tuesday's press conference at Queen's Park, sponsored by the PCs, Dr. David Jacobs said that doctors could have binding arbitration if Brown is elected in two years.

But Brown stopped short of promising that doctors would have that right under a PC government, when asked about it on Wednesday. Instead, he said binding arbitration should “be on the table.”

“It would never get to binding arbitration if I was premier of Ontario, because I have a better relationship with physicians. Binding arbitration is a last resort,” Brown said.

Doctors are set to vote on the agreement on Sunday, at a general membership meeting in Toronto.

The Scarborough-Rouge River byelection is set for Sept. 1.

Brown brings doctors fight into Scarborough byelection with warning to newcomers

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