TORONTO - Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak insists he's committed to a publicly funded and universal health-care system, but refused to say Wednesday whether he'd crack down on illegal user fees if elected Ontario's premier.

Asked repeatedly whether he would go after doctors who charge illegal fees if he leads the next government, Hudak rattled off a list of platform pledges on health care, such as bringing in more doctors to underserviced areas.

"The approach we'll take is to make sure that we have a public and universally accessible health-care system," he said as the provincial campaign officially kicked off.

"I don't want to see obstacles in the way to stopping patients from getting treatment."

The best way to eliminate those "obstacles" is to invest in the right areas, such as bringing in more doctors for about a million Ontarians who still don't have a family physician and investing in long-term care for seniors to free up hospital beds.

The remarks came amid reports that a doctor in Whitby, Ont., is facing a disciplinary hearing for charging patients a $1,000 annual fee to receive care.

Hudak must to clarify his stance on user fees, especially since his key fundraiser, Shaun Francis, is the president of MedCan, the largest private health organization in the country, said Health Minister Deb Matthews.

"This makes me very nervous," she said. "He has got a huge hole in his budget. He's got to fill it somehow, and if he is hinting now that he's going to let these illegal user fees pick up the slack on health care -- that's a very disturbing suggestion and one that I think Ontarians will reject."

Hudak is pointing the finger at the governing Liberals for Ontario's health-care woes, saying such "pressures" in the system are a direct result of the Liberals wasting nearly a billion dollars on the "eHealth boondoggle."

EHealth Ontario -- the agency charged with creating electronic health records -- was mired in controversy two years ago over untendered contracts and consultants' expense claims, a scandal that forced then-health minister David Caplan to resign.

Premier Dalton McGuinty betrayed taxpayers who trusted him with nearly a billion dollars for health care, Hudak charged.

"The way to improve access to our health-care system is to make the right investments in long-term care, in home care and we'll make sure we have a public, universally accessible system," he said.

A Tory government would also bring in more doctors for underserviced areas, he said.

"There's a lot of Ontario men and women who may have done their schooling outside of our province in leading institutions like England and Australia that face obstacles that can't come back to Ontario," he said. "I want them practising in our province."

The Tories have promised to pump an extra $6.1 billion into health care over four years and scrap the province's 14 regional health agencies to save cash.

But that hasn't stopped the Liberals from painting Hudak as an axeman who will fire nurses and close hospitals.

Other groups like the Ontario Health Coalition have also been skeptical of the Tory platform, saying the party must explicitly rule out any new fees or private clinics.

Natalie Mehra, executive director of the public health advocacy group, said Hudak needs to make a clear commitment on user fees.

"In the last provincial election, they (the Tories) ran on a platform of privatizing hospital clinics," she said, referring to the 2007 campaign under former leader John Tory.

"So it's pretty important to get clear, is the intention to bring in private, for-profit clinics, which we all know charge user fees and bill OHIP on top."

Earlier in the day, Hudak stopped at a family home in north Toronto to talk up his pledges to remove the provincial portion of the HST from home heating bills. He then stopped at the Big Apple restaurant in Colborne for a photo op with a local candidate.

After buying several apple pies for the group of reporters and staffers following his campaign, Hudak helped his three-year-old daughter Miller behind the wheel of a driving arcade game.

Hudak spent the rest of the day in eastern Ontario, stopping in Brockville to support PC incumbent Steve Clark before heading to Ottawa for a campaign rally.