Healthcare Looms Large in Ontario Election

A recent survey found that voters in Ontario consider healthcare to be the most important issue in the province’s upcoming election.

Nearly 1000 Ontarians participated in the survey, which was conducted by Nanos Research and commissioned by broadcaster CTV News.

The survey results may not be surprising, given that the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has described the healthcare system as being “in crisis.” On January 29, the first day of the election campaign, the OMA published an open letter to the leaders of all political parties in the province, noting that 2.5 million Ontarians do not have a family physician. Moreover, 40% of practicing family physicians are considering retirement in the next few years. Of note, Ontarians aged between 18 and 34 years are least likely to have a family physician, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Ahead of the February 27 election, MedscapeMedical News contacted the major political parties to discuss their plans for improving healthcare in a province that is home to nearly 40% of Canada’s population.

Progressive Conservative Party

On January 27, the governing Ontario Progressive Conservatives, led by Premier Doug Ford, announced $1.8 billion in funding, $400 million of which had already been approved, aimed at connecting 2 million more Ontarians with a primary care provider by 2029.

The current government states that it will connect 300,000 people with primary care providers this year, 500,000 next year, 600,000 in the following year, and 600,000 in the last year of its 4-year mandate. It also pledges to create 76 new primary care teams this year, 73 in the second year of its mandate, 78 in the third year of its mandate, and 78 in the last year of its mandate.

The $1.8 billion in funding will help a team led by former federal health minister Jane Philpott implement a plan to create or expand 305 primary care teams throughout Ontario, which the government says will connect 300,000 more people to primary care providers this year.

In addition, 100 internationally trained physicians will begin practicing as family physicians in northern and rural communities in Ontario in 2025, according to the ruling Progressive Conservatives.

The Ontario government’s goal is to have a wait time of no more than 12 months for patients who register with the province’s Health Care Connect service to be connected with a primary care team. The same wait time would apply to any patient who was on the Health Care Connect wait list at the start of 2025. These patients would be assigned to a primary care team by spring 2026.

New Democratic Party (NDP)

As leader of the NDP, the official opposition of Ontario, Marit Stiles has pledged to invest $4.05 billion over 4 years in recruiting 3500 new doctors and filling physician vacancies (including 200 family physicians and 150 specialists) in sparsely populated Northern Ontario. The investment also would help establish a command center to manage capacity in the province’s north.

The NDP promises to leverage the skills of internationally trained doctors who reside in Ontario but are not practicing medicine. “There are presently 13,000 internationally trained doctors in Ontario who are not currently working in the field,” said a spokesperson for the Ontario NDP. “We’ll clear barriers to allow them to enter Ontario’s healthcare workforce.”

The NDP also promises to create a centralized referral system to provide access to specialist care such as pediatrics or surgical care. The system also would ensure that primary care teams are appropriately staffed by nurses, dieticians, and other healthcare workers.

Liberal Party

The Ontario Liberals, led by Bonnie Crombie, are pledging to spend $3.1 billion to recruit an additional 3100 doctors by 2029 and to guarantee access to a family doctor for all Ontarians.

One of the planks of the platform is the recruitment of family doctors from other medical fields. The Ontario Liberals plan to recruit at least 650 of the 6000 family doctors currently working in other medical fields by offering financial and administrative incentives for them to deliver comprehensive family medical care.

The Ontario Liberals also say they will create two new medical schools in the province and expand capacities in existing medical schools. They promise to add 1625 available residency positions, thus doubling their total number. Two thirds of the new positions will be dedicated to family medicine.

In addition, the party promises to speed up the accreditation process to integrate at least 1200 internationally trained physicians into the healthcare workforce over 4 years and to incentivize family doctors to serve in rural and northern communities.

Green Party

Led by Mike Schreiner, the Ontario Green Party has declared a “crisis of caring” in the province. It pledges to hire more nurses, physicians, and personal support workers in every region of the province.

The Green Party has also vowed to ensure that each Ontarian has access to a primary healthcare provider within 3-5 years. It intends to stop healthcare privatization and raise per capita healthcare funding in the province to the national average. Finally, it promises to increase access to mental healthcare by ensuring that it is publicly funded under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and provided at no cost to Ontarians.