Contract talks between the Ontario Medical Association and the province have come to a complete standstill, with both sides accusing the other of walking away from the table.

OMA president Dr. Stewart Kennedy dropped off a list of conciliators’ names at Health Minister Deb Matthews’ office with a message urging her to pick one so they can return to negotiations.

“I have given her the opportunity to get back to the table,” Stewart said Thursday. “We are ready to meet today or this weekend. All we ask for is conciliation.”

But as Kennedy was holding a press conference outside Matthews’ office, the ministry released a statement saying the doctors are seeking another $700 million — including a 5 per cent raise for current doctors worth $20,000 per physician.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Matthews later told reporters. “The last offer they put on the table was a $700 million increase in physician compensation over two years.”

Matthews refuses to agree to conciliation. “What they want is more money.”

Negotiations with the OMA, arguably the most powerful group of public sector workers in the province, is seen as the first test of the McGuinty government’s austerity resolve.

If the Liberals give ground to the doctors by giving in to their financial demands, other unions — teachers, civil service — will expect the same. The teachers’ contract is up at the end of the summer and the civil service at the end of this year.

The government can end talks by imposing fee cuts through regulations but Matthews is loath to exercise that power. She’d prefer to return to meaningful negotiations to hammer out a two-year deal.

“But until the OMA says they are prepared to accept our reality, I don’t think there is much point in talking,” Matthews said. “I’d like them to come back to the table; they are the ones that left.”

Kennedy, the president of Ontario’s 25,000 physicians, angrily denied that all the doctors want is a raise. They say this is a fight about the future of the health system as the boomer population rapidly greys and demands more services.

“I am accusing them of misleading and lying on that point,” he said. “How is she going to fund 700 new doctors? How is this government going to care for this aging population? That is a complete untruth coming from the Ministry of Health.”

The doctors said they will take a two-year freeze on fees. They argue the province is trying to make $1 billion in cuts to fees and programs. If that happens, they say patients can expect fewer doctors, longer wait lists for treatment or to see a specialist and a return to crowded emergency rooms.

The doctors added the $700 million Matthews speaks of is what the government won’t pay to cover the costs of caring for a rapidly aging population and the 700 new doctors that will begin practicing this year.

As Ontario grapples with how to rein in a $15 billion deficit, all broader public sector workers — from teachers to civil servants to doctors — are being asked to swallow a pay freeze.

Matthews pointed out payments to physicians have increased 85 per cent or $5.1 billion since 2003. Physicians now bill 10 cents of every tax dollar spent, she said.

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“We were very transparent about our fiscal reality,” she said. “The credit rating agencies reminded us just recently we have a tough agenda when it comes to getting back to balance. Part of that includes asking doctors, who are making on average $385,000 a year, to say, ‘Let’s take a pause. Any additional spending should be supporting people at home.’”

The doctors say the $385,000 a year average salary is pure spin. That doesn’t take into account administration costs to run an office including heat, electricity or rent.