Doug Ford puts Ontario students first for medical school

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Ontario medical students need to come first for admissions, that’s the message from Premier Doug Ford.

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At an announcement at Lakeridge Hospital in Oshawa, Ford announced changes to how medical schools accept students and expanded a Learn and Stay program to include family doctors.

Ford said the changes are about ensuring the 12% of Ontario residents without access to a doctor have a better shot at getting one.

“These new actions are designed to ensure Ontario medical schools are training and graduating more doctors, including family doctors, that are going to stay in Ontario,” he said. “Because we know that if you’re born in Ontario, you’re more likely to stay and practice in Ontario.”

Under the new rules, which take effect for the fall term of 2026, undergraduate medical school programs will need to set aside 95% of places for Ontario students with 5% allocated for students from elsewhere in Canada. For post-graduate programs including residencies and internships, preference will be given to Canadians medical graduates and Ontario medical students studying abroad ahead of international students.

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Right now, international students make up 24.5% of post-graduate placements – that’s up from 21.8% two years ago. The University of Toronto has gone up from 30% two years ago to 33% of post-graduate placements being taken by international students.

The thinking behind the move is to make it easier for people who will stay and practice medicine here to have a shot at getting into a program.

While some international students stay and practice in Ontario at the completion of their programs, many head home. At the same time, many of those who attend medical school out of country have a hard time getting a residency here at home and simply stay in the jurisdiction where they were trained.

It’s the latest move Ford has made in trying to ensure better access to family medicine.

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On Monday, it was announced that the government had appointed Dr. Jane Philpott, the head of the medical school at Queen’s University, to lead a new Primary Care Action Team. Philpott, a former federal health minister under the Trudeau government, has already helped expand access to care in the Kingston area with what is called the Periwinkle model of teams-based care.

On Thursday, the Canadian Institute for Health Information – a federally mandated body – said 88% of Ontario residents have access to a family doctor. That’s well above the 83% national average and places Ontario first among provinces, but Ford said that’s still not good enough.

“That’s unacceptable in my opinion,” Ford said. “We have to connect a hundred per cent of the people.”

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The province also announced Friday that their Learn and Stay program will be expanded, starting in 2026, to cover those who commit to practicing family medicine. The program, which covers tuition costs for those willing to work in underserved areas, has already helped 7,500 graduates in programs like nursing, paramedicine and medical lab technology.

As of 2026, the government says there will be 1,360 grants available in the family medicine stream.

When combined with the creation of two new medical schools at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University, the Ford government is embarking on the biggest push to expand medical graduates in decades. The school at York is being designed to specialize in family medicine while the school at TMU is focusing on underrepresented communities.

Access to a family doctor has been an issue in this province for decades, and Ford is right, even if we are the best performing province in the country, it’s not good enough. Only time will tell if the moves his government is making will deliver as promised, though the five-year timeline seems ambitious.

Something needs to be done to improve access to family doctors in Ontario. Expanding medical schools and giving priority to Ontario students both sound like sensible measures to take.

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