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It’s unclear if Mr. Brown can turn disgruntled doctors into political assets, but his advisory team, which has close ties to the industry, can certainly find out.iStockphoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Ontario Medical Association says it wants the government to agree to binding arbitration before any resumption of talks on a new fee agreement for doctors.

More than 63 per cent of doctors who cast ballots last Sunday voted against the tentative deal, which would have raised the physician services budget by 2.5 per cent a year, to $12.9 billion by 2020.

OMA president Dr. Virgina Walley issued an open letter Thursday saying the association will return to negotiations once it has direction from doctors on what they want.

Commentary: Ontario's doctors don't get it: Health care is a team game

And she said it's clear one thing they want is a system of binding arbitration in place before they return to negotiations on a new fee deal.

Walley said the OMA would consult its members on what happens next.

She wasn't impressed with Health Minister Eric Hoskins's claim that he's always been willing to consider binding arbitration, but that it must be done as part of the negotiations process.

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