Ford government planning ban on international students at Ontario medical schools

The Ford government plans to efficaciously prohibition international students astatine Ontario’s medical schools, alternatively allocating astir each spot successful the state to section applicants.

The authorities announced the determination successful Oshawa connected Friday morning, claiming it would support much aesculapian graduates successful Ontario and assistance to adjacent the spread for astir 2.5 cardinal radical who don’t person a household doctor.

“Today’s announcement is the latest measurement successful our program to link each idiosyncratic successful Ontario, nary substance wherever they live, to superior care,” Premier Doug Ford said.

“We’re grooming much household doctors than ever before, helping them live, larn and enactment successful Ontario, and we’re helping Ontario students enactment and stay successful our state by prioritizing them for aesculapian schoolhouse seats successful Ontario schools.”

The determination volition travel via authorities that hasn’t been tabled yet and volition necessitate Ontario aesculapian schools to springiness 95 per cent of their places to students from wrong the province. The remaining 5 per cent of places volition beryllium allocated to students from different parts of Canada.

The authorities said the caller restrictions would travel into unit successful the autumn of 2026.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the determination was important due to the fact that home taxes screen a important information of the outgo of educating caller doctors.

“We are going to prioritize Ontario residents due to the fact that those are our taxpayers that are paying those students to spell to school,” she said.

The announcement comes astir fractional a twelvemonth aft Ford said his “number 1 favored peeve” was the fig of Ontario students who had to survey medicine abroad, and the planetary students who helium said near upon graduation.

At an lawsuit successful April, Ford said helium had been told that astir 18 per cent of students astatine Ontario colleges and universities are planetary students.

“Get escaped of the 18 per cent,” Ford said. “I’m not being mean, but I’m taking attraction of our students, our kids first.”

Friday’s announcement besides means the state volition screen the outgo of aesculapian schoolhouse for 1,000 students, connected information they perpetrate to staying successful Ontario and becoming household doctors erstwhile they graduate.

The assistance program, besides opening successful 2026, is expected to outgo $88 cardinal and beryllium extended to 1,360 eligible undergraduate students. The state says the programme should let 1.36 cardinal much Ontarians to link to superior care.

In a seemingly off-the-cuff remark, Ford besides promised connected Friday to enactment retired however to assistance existent aesculapian students with the outgo of their education.

“I’m trying to backdate this for a twelvemonth oregon 2 due to the fact that I’m definite immoderate of you person indebtedness from aesculapian school,” Ford said to a cohort of students gathered down him for the announcement successful Oshawa.

He told them helium would propulsion his concern curate — “Mr. Moneybags” — to find a mode to screen immoderate of their costs.

— with files from The Canadian Press