The Ontario government will effectively ban international students from attending medical schools starting in fall 2026 and will also cover tuition for more than 1,000 students who commit to becoming family doctors in the province.

Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Friday that the upcoming legislation will ensure that at least 95 per cent of medical school seats are reserved for Ontario residents. The remaining five percent will be for students from other parts of Canada.

A health ministry official said the change would represent only a minor change in enrollment, as roughly 88 per cent of all medical school places in Ontario are currently held by provincial residents.

The official emphasized that the pending change is not a direct ban on students from outside Canada because medical schools may accept international students in the unlikely scenario of seats not being filled.

The provincial government is also expanding a “Learn and Stay” program, which covers tuition and other educational expenses, to include students with a “full patient roster” who have committed to practicing family medicine in Ontario.

The grant program is expected to cost $88 million and be expanded to include 1,360 eligible undergraduate students. According to Jones, this will give approximately 1.36 million more Ontarians access to a family doctor.

Currently there are approx. 2.5 million people in the province lack a family doctorThe Ontario Medical Association says. This number is expected to almost double in the coming years.

According to a study released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, 12 per cent of Ontarians do not have a family doctor.

This is an issue that has dogged the Ford government for years, as the number of Ontarians without basic health care increased during the Ford government’s tenure.

This week, the province appointed former federal Liberal health minister Jane Philpott to a new role with the goal of connecting every Ontarian to primary care over the next five years.

“He will be on the ground to fix this gap,” Ford said.

The state is also expanding its healthcare team model, where patients connect to clinics and have access to doctors, as well as nurses and other services such as physical rehabilitation and mental health care.

The province said it is reviewing its visa intern program, which trains international students sponsored by foreign governments, in an effort to further protect Ontario students.

Ford also pledged to help current medical students, many of whom stood behind him while speaking at a hospital in Oshawa.

“I’m trying to push this back a year or two because I’m sure some of you have debt from medical school,” Ford said.

He looked at Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy and added: “Can you hear that, Mr. Moneybags?”