1.3 MILLION ONTARIANS NEED A FAMILY PHYSICIAN NOW!

Ontarians desperately need doctors. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath recently promised 300 new physicians for Northern Ontario and the Liberals promised to hire more healthcare workers. Given how long it takes to train a physician, how can we get full fledged physicians that are ready to deliver medical care now and within the next couple of years, not the next decade? The only feasible answer is internationally trained physicians.
Every year anywhere between 1,000 and 2,000 Canadians and permanent residents who have trained abroad in medicine and have successfully passed the Medical Council of Canada exams which test whether they meet the Canadian standard necessary to enter medical residency training and then become licensed to practice in Canada. Yet, Canada only took 439 for residency training in 2022! Canada can’t afford to leave these highly educated individuals not contributing fully to Ontario’s healthcare system, especially as we experience the ravages of a pandemic. The 1.3 million Ontarians waiting for a family physician deserve better!
The Ontario Conservatives promised funding more residency positions as part of the solution, and passed the Ontario Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act in April. . Schedule 6 of the Act prohibits health Colleges from requiring Canadian experience. This change can open the doors for Canadian and permanent resident physicians trained internationally to practice in Ontario. Because of these Canadian experience requirements, even internationally trained physicians (ITPs) with years of experience cannot practice medicine in Canada until they complete a Canadian medical residency.
We need to make sure our next government follows through with implementing Bill 106 and that it is not diluted through protectionist exemptions in regulations. We also need to tell election candidates that we need to make more residency training positions available for those Canadian medical students studying abroad. Two years of residency training for internationally educated Canadian citizens or permanent residents will give us a full fledged family physicians, compared to the seven years of medical education and training that will be required when new Ontario medical school positions are opened. Please talk to Ontario election candidates and make sure they understand that increased and improved access to residency, a level playing field for all qualified graduates, and streamlined routes to licensure for international medical graduates that are trained abroad, are part of the solution to providing quality healthcare for all Ontarians.
Rosemary Pawliuk, Executive Director, Society for Canadians Studying Medicine Abroad