Premier Doug Ford’s government is appointing former federal Liberal health minister Jane Philpott to a new role overseeing attempts to connect every Ontarian to primary care within the next five years.

The Ontario Medical Association says there are more than 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor.

Philpott, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and director of its School of Medicine, says in a statement that she wants to see 100 per cent of Ontarians attached to a family doctor or nurse practitioner working in a publicly funded team.