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Cornwall, a city of 46,000 on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, has struggled with a shortage of family doctors, so much so the Ontario city has an incentive program to recruit MDs — medical doctors.

However, in a move that has provoked baffled and outraged responses, Cornwall city council last week agreed to provide $45,000 in public funding for a new private clinic run by an ND — a naturopathic “doctor.”

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Critics say it’s a sign of how much the public is being misled and confused about a naturopath’s qualifications.

“I’ve been asked what the harm is from NDs misrepresenting themselves as ‘medically trained,’” Brighton, Ont., family physician Michelle Cohen recently tweeted. “Well, here you go: Cornwall city council is so confused about what NDs do that they’re spending 45K on an ND clinic to fix a physician shortage.”

It is just completely inappropriate and completely ridiculous

As reported by Postmedia’s Cornwall Standard Freeholder, Cornwall council last week decided to provide $45,000 from its reserve funds to a local naturopath, as well as her Toronto-based business partner, for a new clinic on 220 Second St. West — which, oddly, is just a few doors down from a similar establishment, the Seaway Naturopathic and Wellness Clinic. (Word of the city’s support for the new clinic came as news to the Seaway staff when reached Tuesday.)