Ford to Allow Doctors, Nurses From Out-of-Province to Start Work in Ontario Immediately

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, joined by Health Minister Sylvia Jones, makes an announcement on health care in the province, in Toronto on Jan. 16, 2023. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Ontario Premier Doug Ford will introduce legislation that would allow doctors and nurses from all over Canada to start practicing in Ontario without delay.

Currently, licensed professionals from other regions must first register in Ontario. That restriction will be removed if the legislation passes.

“We call these new rules ‘As of Right’ and we are the first province to implement them,” Ford said at a press conference in Windsor on Jan. 19.

“A doctor from B.C. or a nurse from Quebec shouldn’t face barriers or bureaucratic delays to start providing care,” Ford said. “Other provinces and territories have the same high standards as we have here.”

Ontario has less than three physicians for every 1,000 people and about 1.3 million people without a family doctor, according to Ontario Medical Association and Ontario College of Family Physicians data.

The province has less than six nurses for every 1,000 people, and would need to hire 24,000 immediately to catch up to the national average, the Ontario Nurses Association reported in November.

Ford, along with Health Minister Sylvia Jones, discussed other initiatives to address health care staff shortages.

Addressing Shortages

Ontario is expanding medical school education, adding 160 undergraduate seats and 295 postgraduate seats over the next five years.

At the Jan. 19 conference, Ford said Ontario has had a problem with international students coming to train at Canadian medical schools, but then leaving the country to practise.

He said they’re taking spots from Ontario students, who are going instead to the Caribbean or Ireland to get their medical degrees. “I have no problem students coming here and studying and becoming a doctor, as long as they stay here,” Ford said. Especially, he said, since they are “being subsidized to a certain degree.”

The government has also been streamlining the process for internationally trained health care professionals to get licensed in Ontario.

Other Announcements

Ford and Jones made the announcement at the Windsor Regional Hospital, where they also announced a $30 million investment in the hospital’s facilities. The funds are aimed at helping diagnose and treat cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Jones said many in Windsor have had to travel to London or Detroit to get care and this investment will allow patients to get that care locally.

A new hospital is supposed to be built in Windsor by 2030, but Jones said this investment and expansion is needed in the meantime and the equipment purchased will be transferred to the new site.

Ford and Jones also spoke about their recently announced plan to expand the number of surgeries and diagnostic scans conducted at private clinics.

Ford reiterated that the procedures would be publicly funded and would tackle the backlog of surgeries, currently above 200,000 in the province.

When asked whether the private clinics would get more money per procedure than the public hospitals, Jones replied, “We have a formula for compensating that is based on patients that are served.”

The plan has three steps, the first of which has already commenced. The first step is focused on getting 14,000 cataract surgeries performed through new partnerships with clinics in Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Windsor. Cataract surgeries currently have the longest wait-time.

Subsequent steps will depend on the same legislation to open practice in Ontario to out-of-province doctors and nurses. That legislation will be introduced in February.