New policy aims to prioritize local students and address physician shortages by reserving medical school admissions for Canadian applicants
The Ontario government has announced that, beginning in 2026, international students will no longer be eligible to enroll in Ontario's medical schools. Premier Doug Ford stated that this measure aims to prioritize Ontario residents in medical school admissions to help address the province's ongoing physician shortage, especially in underserved regions.
Ontario has faced a persistent shortage of physicians, particularly in rural and remote communities, where healthcare access remains a significant issue. Sylvia Jones, Ontario's health minister, remarked that the policy aims to ensure that medical education slots are allocated to Ontario residents more likely to stay in the province and work within the province's healthcare system.
International students currently represent less than one per cent of admissions in Ontario medical schools in the 2023-2024 school year, with the remainder being Canadian residents. The policy shift intends to reallocate these seats exclusively to Canadian students to address the province's healthcare needs. The province will reserve 95 per cent of seats for Ontario residents, with out-of-province admissions accounting for the remaining five per cent.
The province will reserve 95 per cent of seats for Ontario residents, with out-of-province admissions accounting for the remaining five per cent.
With this ban, many international pre-med students will need to seek alternatives. Riya Patel, an international undergraduate student at McMaster, spoke to the Silhouette about how this will effect international students with aspirations of applying to medical school in Canada. "I know so many people who are crushed by this because what are [they] supposed to do now? They went into these good schools [for] pre-med and now, what are their chances, what are their future paths?," said Patel.
I know so many people who are crushed by this because what are [they] supposed to do now?
Riya Patel, international undergraduate student
Alongside the new ban, the Ontario government is introducing a series of programs to encourage Ontario-trained physicians to work in Ontario as family doctors. The government will cover the cost of 1,000 of these students' tuition for those who agree to stay and practice family medicine in Ontario, costing the government $88 million. This subsidy is expected to be put in place starting in 2026 along with the ban on international students.
By Elisa Do, Contributor
“How many of you are thinking of pursuing a career in health care?”
Since my first day at McMaster, I have — on several occasions — been asked this same question by various professors.
Every time, the classroom flooded with hands in the air. And it was safe to say that none of us were surprised.
Health care encompasses a growing range of professions that have become increasingly popular in our world today. This popularity arises from various circumstances, but it is especially due to the growing number of aged “baby boomers.” As folks of that generation age, the number of individuals seeking healthcare also increases. Thus, leading to greater needs for healthcare professionals, and further emphasis on the field’s importance. Considering this, many children are being taught the benefits of building a career within health care, and more specifically, the benefits of becoming a physician. Physicians are known to have high paying salaries, receive a high level of respect, and face considerable job demands.
However, working in health care is meant to be attractive beyond these practical values. To work in healthcare means providing for others; it means caring for complete strangers. And that, to me, is something meaningful.
Unfortunately, when thinking about the opportunities that healthcare can offer, folks tend to brush aside other crucial professions within the field. One of which include the profession of nursing. Nurses are often viewed as inferior to physicians and portrayed as mere subordinates within the media. They are thought to hold fewer skills, when in truth, they simply hold an extremely valuable set of different skills.
When I think about the time I spent in the hospital with my family, I think about the warm smiles of the nurses. I remember their patience, and their acts of kindness that brought my family comfort. That is not to say that the doctors were not helpful during our difficult times, but the level of intimacy was not the same. I remember the way they cheered my family on, and I remember thinking to myself, “I have to give back to this community someday. I have to bring kindness to other families the way that they did for me today.” In the short amount of time that the hospital became my home, those nurses touched me and my family in a way that will last a lifetime.
When I think about the time I spent in the hospital with my family, I think about the warm smiles of the nurses. I remember their patience, and their acts of kindness that brought my family comfort. That is not to say that the doctors were not helpful during our difficult times, but the level of intimacy was not the same. I remember the way they cheered my family on, and I remember thinking to myself, “I have to give back to this community someday. I have to bring kindness to other families the way that they did for me today.” In the short amount of time that the hospital became my home, those nurses touched me and my family in a way that will last a lifetime.
Nurses are not only caregivers, but they can also be involved in treating injuries, administering and managing medications and performing basic life support. Many of their responsibilities are those typically associated with the roles of doctors.
But even with all the responsibilities that nurses carry, many still regard nurses as “assistants” to physicians. Nurses are often thought to be less significant in the hospital as many forget that health care requires a team effort. If you want to provide care for strangers, and wish to have those strangers put faith in you, it takes a lot more than diagnosing conditions or performing surgery. It requires providing emotional and psychological support for patients and their families, maintaining a safe environment for everyone, and taking unique approaches when providing care for each individual.
In an integrative review done by several members of the Department of Nursing Science at the University of Turku, the perceptions of nursing that young people carry were found to inaccurately reflect the profession’s actual responsibilities. In fact, these perceptions have not changed in the last ten years. Nursing was described with poor working conditions, difficult shift work, and low social status. Along with the many stereotypes regarding nurses — such as gender roles and sexualization — found in the media today, many folks fail to further consider the educational requirements and intellectual demands that nurses face.
Before coming to McMaster, I had intended on applying for the undergraduate nursing program. Although I eventually changed my application choices as I discovered more regarding my interests, the nursing program still stands to me as an exceptional pathway into doing amazing work.
However, when I had initially introduced my family and friends to the idea of me becoming a nurse, I was presented with questions such as: “Why would you want to be a nurse? Why wouldn’t you want to be a doctor?” Hearing these questions not only felt insulting to my values, but more so insulting to the professions themselves, as if all there was to a career was the monetary benefit, or the accepted social status.
And I know doctors and nurses are not the only jobs being misconstrued. Understanding the responsibilities behind any profession takes more than a simple Google search or hearing salary ranges from friends.
Whether to choose medicine, nursing or any other health care pathway for that matter, should be a decision made based on what the individual seeks for their future. There are many wonderful reasons to become a physician, but I believe the spotlight of health care has been too concentrated on the title of ‘doctor’ rather than what the job really entails. It’s time we shift this spotlight and highlight the importance of other contributing members of the healthcare team; it’s time we take a closer look at what it really means to “pursue a career in health care.”
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