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Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s proposal to restrict the use of private corporations as a tax-saving vehicle will hit many professionals hard, but especially doctors who are mounting a publicity campaign against it and gathering allies from other affected groups.

Dr. Shawn Whatley, president of the Ontario Medical Association, said MPs can expect to start hearing from the 29,000 practicing doctors in his organization, about 70 per cent of whom have incorporated.

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“If we can demonstrate to them that this is a bad idea for a significant number of people across Canada, Members of Parliament need to know that,” he said. “We’re doing that with letters, letters to the editors, a social media campaign…We’ll have MP visits planned, and I think we’ll also be leveraging our relationships with the provincial members of parliament.”

The leadership of the Ontario Medical Association has published numerous opinion columns blasting the proposal since it was released on July 18. “If implemented, these proposals will make Canada an undesirable place to practice,” Whatley wrote in the Toronto Star. In the Toronto Sun, Dr. Charles Shaver said the changes “could have a major cost impact on their patients and clients,” and said it adds to the “poisonous” climate in Ontario.