On Friday, Ontario officials announced that international students will be prohibited from attending its medical schools comes 2026 as the province moves to put Canadian students first. Premier Doug Ford said that the province will cover tuition costs for over 1,000 students who apply for its new grant program and commit to becoming family doctors in Ontario.

Ontario lawmakers explained that the legislation's goals would allow 2.5 million of its residents who don't have a family doctor to obtain one. Data shows that 12 percent of Ontarians do not have a family doctor, as per a study conducted by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

"There were 18 percent students from around the world taking our kids' seats and then not even staying here and going back to their country, and it's just not right," Ford told reporters at a Friday press briefing, according to Toronto Star. "So now it's going to be 100 percent Canadian, 95 percent Ontario."

Ontario is also extending its "Learn and Stay" program, which pays for tuition and other educational expenses, to students who pledge to practice family medicine in the province. It is anticipated that the grant program, which will start in 2026, will cost $88 million and be available to 1,360 qualified undergraduate students. According to the province, 1.36 million additional Ontarians should be able to access primary care through the program.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones told reporters that Ontario students "need to come first." She explained: "We are going to prioritize Ontario residents because those are our taxpayers that are paying those students to go to school."

The announcement follows this week's appointment of former federal Liberal health minister Jane Philpott to a new role, where she has been tasked to connect every resident in the province to a primary care doctor within the next five years. "She's going to be on the ground fixing that gap," said Ford.