Province investing $88 million over three years to ensure Ontario medical students practice at home

OSHAWA – Convincing Ontario-trained doctors to stay in-province to practice medicine is the goal of an $88 million investment over the next three years by Queen’s Park to expand Learn and Stay grants for undergraduate students that commit to practice family medicine with a “full roster of patients” once they graduate.

Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Sylvia Jones and a host of other MPPs and local politicians were at Lakeridge Health’s Oshawa facility Friday morning for the announcement, with medical students from Queen’s University working in Oshawa as part of a first-of-its kind in Canada Queen’s-Lakeridge Health MD Family Medicine Program lined up behind the podium.

“Today’s announcement is the latest step in our plan to connect every person in Ontario, no matter where they live, to primary care,” said Premier Ford. “We’re training more family doctors than ever before, helping them live, learn and stay in Ontario, and we’re helping Ontario students support and remain in our province by prioritizing them for medical school seats in Ontario schools.”

The government wants to close the 10 per cent gap of people who do not have access to a regular health-care provider by “breaking down barriers” for Ontario students to become family doctors by expanding the Learn and Stay grant to include family medicine. The province is also requiring medical schools to prioritize seats for Ontario residents, helping ensure more doctors who study in Ontario treat Ontario patients rather than leaving the province after their studies.

“We’re investing in Ontario students,” Health Minister Jones said in responding to media questions on why the government is “prioritizing” students from local schools. “We know when we invest and train students in Ontario, they stay.”

The expansion of the Learn and Stay grants will begin 2026 for 1,360 eligible medical students, an investment that will enable the connection of an estimated 1.36 million people to primary care. The funding will cover all tuition and other direct educational costs like books, supplies and equipment in exchange for a term of service as a physician in any community across Ontario.

“Since it was first introduced in 2023, the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant has helped nearly 7,500 students begin training in priority nursing, paramedicine and medical lab technology programs,” said Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn. “Now, we’re taking the grant to the next level – supporting Ontario’s future family doctors so they can provide world-class health care to the people of Ontario.”

The new legislative and regulatory changes will, if passed, require all Ontario medical schools to allocate at least 95 per cent of all undergraduate medical school seats to residents of Ontario, with the other five per cent reserved for students from the rest of Canada, effectively banning international students in medical schools beginning in the fall of 2026.

The changes will, however, also create opportunities for international medical students who started their education abroad to be able to complete their postgraduate training here and ensure Ontario medical schools are training and graduating doctors, including family doctors, to stay in the province to practice.

“We’ve achieved great progress in connecting every single person in Ontario who wants a primary care provider to get one,” added Jones. “By making it easier for residents to stay in Ontario to go to medical school, our government is taking the next step to connect more people to world class health care right in their own communities.”

The expansion of the program drew positive reviews from politicians and medical and educational professional alike, with Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown saying “every resident deserves access to family doctor,” while Queen’s University Dean of Health Sciences Dr. Jane Philpott declared the program “good news for both Ontario’s learners and the health care needs of our families and communities.”

Kimberly Moran, the CEO of the Ontario Medical Association, said the initiative is a “positive recognition of the vital role family physicians play in delivering care across Ontario.”

Ontario is also opening two new medical schools at Metropolitan University and York University in Toronto and has expanded medical school seats, adding more than 260 undergraduate and 449 residency spots, eventually reaching more than 500 undergraduate spots and 742 residency positions. This is the largest medical school expansion in more than a decade.

Ford also answered questions about wait times at Ontario hospitals and promised to open the chequebook to reduce emergency department backlogs, citing his experience in American hospitals in his pre-politics days where “your butt doesn’t hit that seat for longer than two minutes.”

“If someone came to me and said we can get every single emergency department person (served) in less than an hour and this is what it’ll cost, I’ll do it.”