Ontario Liberals allocated one billion dollars over two years to clear the massive backlog of surgeries, setting a timeline and dollar figures on a commitment that is part of the main three parties' election platforms.

Leader Steven Del Duca said the Liberal government will allocate additional funding to allow hospitals to work "significantly" above pre-pandemic volumes.

Del Duca said during an announcement in west Toronto on Wednesday. The Ontario Medical Association estimated last fall that the healthcare service backlog had risen to 20 million as doctors and nurses cared for wave after wave of COVID-19 patients while dealing with staff shortages.

Services postponed during the pandemic include doctor visits, diagnostic tests, treatments, and surgeries.

In March, then-Health Minister Christine Elliott said the backlog of surgeries was around 50,000.

Del Duca said his plan would make hospitals better staffed and able to do more work. And we will make sure we can run MRI procedures, CT scan procedures, and our operating rooms.

Del Duca said the Liberals will ensure surgeries return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022.

He added they will allocate maximum wait times and publish them. The Liberals, who are seeking to improve their position as a third party in this election, said they would help create non-profit surgical centers run by local hospitals to manage larger surgical volumes, and an electronic referral system that would make things "easier and more efficient" for patients and their families.

Last month's Progressive Conservative budget, which was not passed before the election campaign and acts as the party's platform, allocated $300 million toward a "surgical recovery strategy" to increase surgeries, procedures, and diagnostic services "with a focus on areas with the largest decline in services due to the pandemic."

The budget does not specify a deadline for clearing the backlog or commit to project funding in future years, and party spokespeople did not immediately comment.

Meanwhile, the NDP committed to "investing" to end the backlog. "We will identify and announce the number of delayed procedures and publish regular interim reports," the party platform stated.