The Ontario government says it plans to introduce new legislation aimed at strengthening the province’s health-care workforce by giving priority access to residency positions for international medical graduates (IMGs) with ties to Ontario.
Announced Thursday by the Ministry of Health, the proposed change would prioritize Ontario-connected IMGs in the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) process, with the goal of helping more Ontario students who studied medicine abroad return home to complete their postgraduate training and begin practising in the province.
If passed, the legislation would create a dedicated stream within the residency matching system for Ontario IMGs, aligning the province with similar approaches already used in other parts of Canada, including Nova Scotia.
“Our government is protecting Ontario’s health-care system by taking bold action to strengthen Ontario’s physician workforce now, and into the future,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “This proposed change to the matching process would make it easier for Ontarians studying medicine abroad to attend residency and have a career as a doctor back home in Ontario.”
Under the current CaRMS system, residency positions are filled through a national matching process involving Canadian and international medical graduates. The province says Ontario medical school graduates will continue to receive first-round prioritization, while the new framework would ensure a separate pathway for Ontario-linked international graduates.
The proposed eligibility criteria would define Ontario IMGs as individuals who have either attended secondary school in Ontario full-time for at least two years, studied full-time in an Ontario university for at least two years, or lived continuously in the province for at least 24 weeks in the year prior to application.
The government says it plans to work with medical schools and CaRMS beginning in summer 2026 to implement the changes ahead of the September 2026 application cycle for the 2027 residency match.
Officials say the move is part of a broader effort to expand Ontario’s physician workforce, including adding more than 270 new residency positions across the province, bringing the total to 1,739 seats — a nearly 50 per cent increase since 2018.
“Since 2018, Ontario has added nearly 20,000 additional physicians to its health-care workforce, including an over 14 per cent increase in family doctors,” the ministry said in a background document.
The province has also expanded medical education capacity through new and existing institutions, including new medical schools at Toronto Metropolitan University in Brampton and York University in Vaughan, alongside expansions at universities including Toronto, McMaster, Ottawa, and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine University.
Andrea Khanjin, Minister of Red Tape Reduction, said the changes are intended to streamline training pathways and retain more physicians in the province.
“We need more doctors, and this is yet another way to help connect Ontarians to the health-care services they need, like primary care,” Khanjin said. “We can’t afford red tape when it comes to training more medical students here.”
The government says the changes are part of its broader health-care strategy, “Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care,” which focuses on expanding access to care and strengthening Ontario’s long-term health workforce.
