TORONTO, Ont. – The McGuinty government is cutting several hundred OHIP fees as it moves to freeze wages for Ontario doctors amid contentious contract talks.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews said 400 physicians make more than $1-million a year in fees and she wants the money spent on expanding patient care instead.

“Ontario doctors are the best paid in Canada and in fact, I’ve yet to find a jurisdiction that pays their doctors more than we do in Ontario,” Matthews said. “I just don’t buy the argument that doctors will leave this province.”

She said some doctors have been getting a raise thanks to technology, which has shortened the time it takes for some specialists to do their jobs.

Matthews wants the Ontario Medical Association to return to the table but has made it clear the only acceptable outcome is a pay freeze.

Matthews said the changes to some of the fees paid to doctors will save $338-million a year, but she insists most physicians won’t feel the pain.

The fee changes include slashing payments to doctors who refer themselves for diagnostic services like X-rays.

Fees for cataract surgeries, for example, will be also be cut by 10 per cent.