Doug Ford says he wants future students at a York University primary care focused medical school to be exclusively from Ontario.
The announcement comes amid a prolonged province-wide shortage of primary care physicians, but Ford says he plans to meet demand by attracting and retaining medical students and newly qualified physicians from inside Ontario.
Currently, 18 per cent of medical students in Ontario are international students, according to Ford.
“I want to support Ontario students, and God bless everyone else coming to our country,” the premier said during an announcement at York University on Wednesday. “In my opinion…get rid of the 18 per cent,” he continued.
“I’m not being mean, but I’m taking care of our students, our kids first,” Ford concluded.
York University will receive $9 million in start-up funding toward a new school of medicine set to open in 2028.
The investment “will help to accelerate the pace and path to new medical doctor programs in the fastest growing region in Ontario,” the university said in a press release.
Shortly after Ford’s announcement NDP Leader Marit Stiles delivered a statement to the media criticizing his remarks.
“The Premier’s comments were wildly disrespectful to the thousands of students and internationally trained physicians with experience from across the world stuck waiting for a residency spot so they can finally practice in our province…he is telling skilled physicians from around the world looking to build a life in Ontario that they’re simply not welcome here.” Stiles wrote in statement to Now Toronto.
A group representing migrant workers penned a response strongly condemning Ford’s reasoning.
“The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change is outraged at Premier Ford distracting from his chronic underfunding of public education by blowing a racist dog-whistle that casts international students as outsiders,” the advocacy group said in a statement on X.
After the Ford government slashed tuition fees for domestic students by 10 per cent in 2019, post-secondary institutions were reportedly forced to turn their attention to international students.
People were also quick to react to Ford’s comments online. While some showed support, others criticized the premier’s seeming unwillingness to address the cause of the primary care shortage.
“Lately it seems Ford causes the problems, then stands back and mines people’s frustration. Ford reduced funding to post secondary that created the financial imperative to bring in more intl students. And here he is gaslighting rather than owning his mistake,” one person wrote.
“We don’t have a problem training family physicians. We have a problem with your government’s refusal to pay enough to make family medicine financially viable. This is just more money tossed at your donors,” someone else said.
In its 2024 budget, the Ford government committed to investing $50 billion over the next decade into 50 hospital projects, to adding 3,000 beds to the healthcare system, and to investing $564 million to connect 600,000 more people to family care.
In 2023, 17,500 nurses registered to work, and the Ford government injected $128 million to boost nursing enrollment.
However, a report released in March by The Ontario College of Family Physicians says more than 516,000 Torontonians are currently without a family doctor, and it projects that number to reach nearly 1 million by 2026.
In Ontario, the college estimates 2.3 million people are without a family doctor and expects that number to grow to 4.4 million by 2026.
