Premier says Ontario students should get medical school spots
Ford announces new institution run by York University
All medical school spots in the province should be taken by students from Ontario, says Premier Doug Ford.
Ford, who was in Vaughan formally announcing a new medical school run by York University to train family physicians, later said “I’ve been on this for awhile … We will continue working with the (post-secondary) ministry to get rid of the 18 per cent” of international students.
“I’m not being mean,” the premier added, “but I’m taking care of our students, our kids first, amid stories of students going to Ireland, Australia or the Caribbean to earn a medical degree and then not return to Ontario. “Guess what happens? They meet someone and they don’t come back home,” he said, adding “I want 100 per cent Ontario students going to these universities.”
Ford earlier told those gathered at the Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital to learn more about the province’s newest medical school — set to open in 2028 — that “I can’t wipe the smile off my face, this is just an amazing day.”
York “will be the first medical school in Canada that is focused primarily on training family doctors.”
With 2.3 million Ontarians in need of a family doctor, the province has been scrambling to tackle the shortage of health-care workers by opening hundreds of new medical spots and postgraduate medical training.
“We can’t stop — and we won’t stop — until we connect everyone in Ontario to primary care,” the premier said.
Asked about York’s many problems — a $600-million debt with six of its 10 faculties operating at a loss, and frequent labour unrest, including a current strike by contract faculty and teaching and graduate assistants — Ford insisted he has “100 per cent confidence” in the university.
Vaughan Mayor Steven Del Duca hailed the announcement and praised the premier for being “an extraordinarily accessible and welcoming partner on so many fronts.”
“The conversations relating to a medical school for York University started so many years ago,” said Del Duca. “It’s an exciting day for the families in this community who rely on top-quality health care and will be for many years to come,” he said.
Ford has pledged $9 million over four years as a planning grant for the new medical school, and says after it opens it will fund operating costs, as it does for the province’s other medical schools.
The announcement, first revealed by the Star on March 20 before it was formally disclosed in last week’s budget, comes as universities say they need more government funding given a number of cost pressures.
These include inflation, salary increases because of the now-unconstitutional wage capping legislation Bill 124, as well as an ongoing tuition freeze and the upcoming federal limits on lucrative international students.
The province recently announced about $1.2 billion in one-time funding for colleges and universities over three years, which is about half of what its own expert panel recommended.
In order to work as a doctor in Ontario, students have to earn a medical degree — typically four years — followed by postgraduate training, or residencies, as well as write exams to become licenced.
Ontario currently has six medical schools — at University of Toronto, Western, Queen’s, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, McMaster and University of Ottawa — with a seventh opening in 2025 in Brampton, run by Toronto Metropolitan University.
Some 77 per cent of Queen’s medical school students are from Ontario, with the remainder from the rest of Canada, and none from other countries. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine says 90 per cent of its students are from Northern Ontario, with 10 per cent from the rest of Ontario and Canada.