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Health & Healthcare

Family doctors and primary care platforms

Here's what the 2025 Ontario election parties are promising.

PC

  • Open new medical schools at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University
  • Invest $88M more to expand the Learn & Stay Grant that provides free tuition for medical students who stay in Ontario for 5 years after grad

    "Invest an additional $88 million to expand the Learn and Stay Grant to cover more medical students more quickly to provide free tuition for medical students that practise family medicine in an Ontario community for at least five years after graduation." — Our Plan to Protect Ontario, retrieved 2025-02-26

  • Require all medical schools to allocate at least 95% of undergraduate medical school seats to residents of Ontario

    "Require all Ontario medical schools to allocate at least 95 per cent of all undergraduate medical school seats to residents of Ontario, with the other five per cent reserved for students from the rest of Canada." — Our Plan to Protect Ontario, retrieved 2025-02-26

  • Expand new medical school seats across the province with more than 500 new undergraduate spots and 742 new residency positions

    "Expand new medical school seats across the province to complete the largest expansion of new seats in over a decade, and leverage more capacity to train more doctors here at home. This includes a nearly 50 per cent expansion to residency spots by 2028, and a nearly 40 per cent increase in undergraduate medical spots over the same period, which will result in a total of more than 500 new undergraduate spots and 742 new residency positions." — Our Plan to Protect Ontario, retrieved 2025-02-26

ONDP

  • Invest $4.1B over four years to ensure everyone has access to team-based primary care

    "We will invest $4.1 billion over four years to ensure everyone in Ontario has access to team-based primary care." — On Your Side: The Ontario NDP Plan for Southwest Ontario & Niagara, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • Create a centralised referral system that covers the entire province and its specialties

    "Ontario needs a centralized referral system that covers the entire province and its specialties. From pediatrics to adult care, wait times vary greatly for diagnostic imaging, surgical and specialist access. A centralized referral system would connect patients to care faster. The Ford government promised this in their Your Health plan but have not delivered." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • Hire 200 family physicians and 150 specialist doctors for Northern Ontario, and double residency positions at NOSM University

    "We will tackle the Northern health crisis by establishing a Northern Command Centre to hire 350 doctors, including 200 family doctors in Northern Ontario and we will double residency positions at NOSM University." — On Your Side, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Connect doctors to a support team for administrative work

    "We will unlock more time for doctors to spend with patients by cutting the administrative burden and connecting doctors to a support team." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

    "Patients Ahead of Paperwork: Family doctors are spending up to 20 hours a week, the equivalent of more than two days of full-time work, on the paperwork burden — filling out lengthy forms, writing unnecessary sick notes for employers — time that eats away at the amount of time doctors can spend with patients. Taking paperwork off of doctors’ desks will allow them to see an avg of 20 more patients a day.

    • The Ontario Medical Association estimates that 40-50% of their time can be freed up when doctors are connected to team-based care. By reducing the amount of time doctors spend on administrative work, we can unlock thousands of hours for doctors to spend with patients and significantly increase the number of patients that each doctor can roster.

    • We will streamline time-consuming administrative tasks and reduce the number of forms that are required to be filled out by a doctor

    • We will invest in a surge of additional healthcare staff so that doctors can spend their time being doctors." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • Speed up approval of team-based primary care proposals

    "We will accelerate the approval of team-based primary care proposals from Community Health Centres, Nurse Practitioner Led Clinics, and Indigenous Primary Care Organizations that have submitted applications but still await review and funding." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • Add 3,500 doctors to the primary care system over 4 years by increasing residency spots and connecting new grads to interdisciplinary teams

    "We will add 3,500 doctors to the primary care system over four years. We will increase residency spots in medical schools and clear barriers for the 13,000 internationally trained and ready-to-practice doctors in Ontario who are ready to enter the healthcare workforce." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

    "We will pay community health workers fairly to make sure the sector does not fall behind. We will increase residency seats and licensing opportunities for internationally trained doctors and healthcare workers already here in Ontario who are not yet able to practice.

    • We will add 3,500 doctors to the primary care system by increasing residency spots in medical schools and incentivizing new graduates to stay in primary care by connecting them to an interdisciplinary team.

    • We will clear barriers for the 13,000 internationally trained and ready-to-practice doctors to enter the healthcare workforce." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • Increase pay in the community health sector by investing in a base budget increase of 5% annually for community health organisations

    "Make sure workers in the community health sector are paid fairly. Ontario needs to invest in a base budget increase of 5% or $33.7 million annually for community-governed comprehensive primary health care organizations. Members have only seen a 6% increase over 27 years." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

  • No longer require family doctors to pay when their patients receive care from a walk-in clinic

    "Stop the practice of “negation,” where your family doctor has to pay when you receive care from a walk-in clinic, and patients can face “deregistration” and lose their doctor as a result." — ontariondp.ca, retrieved 2025-02-20

Liberal

  • Attract, recruit, and retain 3,100 family doctors by 2029

    "Give every person in Ontario access to a family doctor by attracting, recruiting, retaining and integrating 3,100 family doctors by 2029." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Bring nurse practitioners into the public system and ban private-pay nurse practitioner clinics
  • Double the number of medical school spots and residency positions by creating two new schools and expanding capacity at existing ones

    "Create two new medical schools and expand capacity in existing medical schools, doubling the number of medical school spots and residency positions." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Deliver team-based care with evening and weekend appointments, integrated home care for seniors, and mental health services for youth

    "Deliver team-based care with evening and weekend appointments, integrated home care for seniors, and accessible mental health services for children, youth and teenagers." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Provide incentives for doctors to work in rural and northern communities

    "Incentivize family doctors to serve in rural and northern communities and mentor the next generation to prevent future shortages." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Speed up the integration of internationally-trained doctors over the next four years

    "Accelerate the process to integrate at least 1,200 qualified and experienced internationally trained doctors over the next four years through Practice Ready Ontario." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Implement interoperable electronic medical records

    "Eliminate fax machines, enhance virtual care, introduce centralized referral systems with patient portals and implement interoperable electronic medical records to let doctors and other healthcare professionals focus on patients instead of paperwork." — Getting the Basics Right: A Plan to Do More For You, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Introduce centralised referral systems with patient portals

Green

  • Recruit 3,500 more doctors through more medical school positions and more residency opportunities for international medical graduates

    "Recruit 3,500 more doctors in Ontario through more medical school positions and more residency opportunities for international medical graduates so that every person has a primary care provider within 3-4 years" — Our Plan for Fairness, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Expand and provide start-up funding for family health teams across the province, with a wider variety of care available

    "Expand and provide start-up funding for family health teams across the province with a wider variety of care available (social workers, addictions care, physio, etc.)" — Our Plan for Fairness, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Move to electronic prescriptions to allow doctors more time caring for their patients

    "Work with primary care providers to dramatically decrease administrative demands on doctors, and move to electronic prescriptions to allow them to spend more time caring for patients" — Our Plan for Fairness, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Increase funding to expand access to publicly-funded and publicly-provided 24/7 non-urgent clinics

    "Increase funding to expand access to publicly funded and publicly provided 24/7 non urgent clinics like community health clinics and nurse practitioner led clinics to reduce pressure on emergency rooms" — Our Plan for Fairness, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Better integrate long-term care, homecare, and caregiver services within family health teams

    "Better integrate long-term care, homecare, and caregiver services within family health teams to properly provide for the complex needs of residents" — Our Plan for Fairness, retrieved 2025-02-22

  • Stop charging doctors and removing patients from rosters if they visit a walk-in clinic

Looking for the parties' positions on other topics?

See our full 2025 Ontario election platform comparison