Ontario bans international students from its medical schools starting 2026
The Ontario government has announced a moratorium on all international applicants to Ontario medical schools starting from the 2026 to 2027 school year in a provincial effort to combat the province’s doctor shortage.
On October 25, Premier Doug Ford announced Ontario will no longer allow international students in medical schools starting in the fall of 2026 but will cover tuition costs for more than 1,000 Ontario students who plan on becoming family doctors.
According to Ford, 18 per cent of students in Ontario medical schools are currently international students with no plan to stay in Ontario after their studies are up. Ford also said that the new legislation would ensure that Ontario medical schools reserve 95 per cent of spots for Ontario residents and leave the rest for students from other parts of Canada, completely shutting out international applicants.
The Ontario government is also spending C$88 million to expand its “Learn and Stay” grant program to motivate domestic medical students to stay in Ontario once they graduate. Through the expansion, the government covers 1,360 additional eligible undergraduate students from the 2026 to 2027 school year onwards.
The “Learn and Stay” grant program covers educational expenses for medical students, including tuition and textbook fees, provided that they “commit to working in the same region where [they] studied after [they] graduate”—according to the eligibility requirements on the Ontario website. Currently, the program covers students in nursing, paramedic, and medical laboratory technology programs, including undergraduates who take a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
However, data reveals Ford’s 18 per cent claim was inaccurate. Out of the 3,833 students during the 2023 to 2024 school year, only 10 international students were enrolled in medical schools, making the actual percentage about 0.26 per cent. Additionally, inquiries to Queen’s University School of Medicine and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, two respected medical schools in Ontario, found that these schools admitted no international students in the past year.
The proposed ban comes as Ontario is experiencing a shortage of family doctors. According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP), as of July 11, 2024, over 2.5 million Ontarians have no family doctor or primary care support. According to research from Upstream Lab at St. Michael’s Hospital, an additional 670,000 Ontarians live more than 50 kilometres from their family doctor.
The OCFP estimates that should current trends continue, that number will rise to 4.4 million by 2026, corresponding to one in four Ontarians no longer having access to primary care. The shortage comes as a survey done by the OCFP in May 2023 indicated that 65 per cent of the family doctors surveyed plan to leave their practice, citing long work hours, confusing administrative work, and lack of governmental support.
In addition, family doctors also accuse the Ontario government of not paying them enough through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to continue their practices. During the last decade, while inflation rose by 25 per cent, the billings by OHIP to family doctors only rose by 6.1 per cent, indicating that family doctor pay is lagging, especially with greater administrative burdens increasing their workload.
Programs designed to address these concerns have been proven successful before, with British Columbia gaining 700 family doctors a year after it changed its payment models to account for consultations with other doctors, reviewing lab work, and other administrative tasks. The changes, made in February of 2023, relieved some of the pressures family doctors faced through greater compensation, making it more appealing to continue practicing family medicine there.
Broader trend against international students
Ford’s actions against international students for medical schools rose amidst a growing backlash against the number of international students enrolled in Canada. A new survey conducted in April 2024 by Navigator revealed that out of the 1,500 random adult Canadians surveyed, 58 per cent felt there were too many international students currently studying within Canada.
Earlier on September 18, the federal government announced a general reduction in temporary residence, including international students, an announcement that came after Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre stated his support for limitations on international students and a decrease in immigration outright, blaming the current numbers for the ongoing housing crisis.
It is possible that Ford established the ban on international medical students following the same logic, blaming them for exacerbating Ontario’s healthcare crisis regarding the shortage of family doctors.
Universities have pushed back against the new caps for international students of all kinds, arguing that it will harm Canada’s global reputation as a leader in higher education by dissuading highly skilled applicants from wanting to study in Canada. A significant amount of universities’ revenue also comes from international students’ tuition fees, which may impact their future capabilities due to their limited finances.
