On October 25, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones revealed a plan to address the province’s family doctor shortage by allocating nearly all available medical school spots to provincial applicants. This legislation would ensure that at least 95 per cent of medical school spots will be reserved for Ontario residents. 

The remaining five per cent of spots will be reserved for Canadian students who live outside of the province, barring international students from attending beginning in fall 2026. 

The recent legislation has since sparked criticism over the effectiveness of addressing Ontario’s family doctor shortage. In light of this, The Varsity spoke to community members about their concerns. 

The policy 

A key priority for the legislation is training and retaining doctors in Ontario so the province can address critical healthcare shortages in family care. 

As of July 2024, the Ontario Medical Association revealed that 2.5 million Ontario residents reported not having a family doctor. As part of the legislation, the provincial government will create a grant program to cover tuition for medical school students if they commit to practicing family medicine in Ontario after graduation. With this grant program, Jones anticipates that 1,360 eligible undergraduate students will receive annual funding. 

She believes that this program is expected to allow approximately 1.4 million more Ontarians to have access to a family doctor. 

U of T’s reaction

Three days after the legislation was announced, Vice-President & Provost Trevor Young released a statement for prospective Doctor of Medicine (MD) students at U of T.

“The University of Toronto reaffirms that only Canadian students are eligible for and enrolled in government-funded MD spaces in our medical academies. Any assertion to the contrary is simply incorrect.” He continued, “We remain committed to providing opportunities first and foremost for medical students from Ontario and, secondarily, the rest of Canada, and we support driving better health outcomes for all Ontarians.”

According to Young’s statement, U of T’s medical program at Temerty Faculty of Medicine currently has 1,113 students. 88.7 per cent are from Ontario, 11.3 per cent are from the rest of Canada, and only 0.17 per cent are international students.

Student reaction

Ronaish Arshad — a first-year international student from the United Arab Emirates studying life sciences — planned to attend medical school in Ontario.

“When this legislation came out, I was shocked,” she said in an interview with The Varsity. “In my opinion, most students who are in my situation will start reassessing where they want to go to medical school.” 

Arshad noted “most of the students who come here as pre-meds come being very well aware of the uncertainty of getting into medical school.” She said that the recent international student caps introduced by the federal government made prospective students “hyper-aware of the possibility of universities limiting enrolment or barring enrolment for international students.” 

“On a large scale, international students were never necessarily taking spots away,” Arshad added. “In fact, most international students who do decide to stay here after their MDs [to do their residencies] here, become [attending physicians] here, so they’re contributing to the workforce.”

“The family doctor shortage can only be adequately addressed by opening up more medical schools and by opening up more seats,” Arshad explained, noting that Canada only has 17 medical schools. 

For Arshad, this legislation would not make a big difference.

“I don’t think the lack of qualified applicants was ever an issue. It’s the lack of seats.”