How Ontario’s political leaders plan to fix the province’s primary care crisis

A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic in Calgary, Friday, July 14, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Ontario’s family doctor shortage has emerged as one of the top issues on the campaign trail ahead of this week’s provincial election as millions of Ontarians struggle to access primary care. All four main party leaders have released their plans to connect all Ontario residents with family doctors in the coming years by investing billions of dollars in hiring more physicians.

According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, the number of Ontarians without a family doctor in 2024 surpassed 2.5 million, a list that has grown by 400,000 since 2020. The Ontario Medical Association has warned that by 2026, there could be 4.4 million Ontarians without a family doctor as roughly 40 per cent of Ontario family doctors today eye retirement in the next few years.

Here is a look at how the PCs, Liberals, NDP, and Green Party plan to address the primary care crisis.

PCs to spend $1.8B

PC Leader Doug Ford has vowed to spend $1.8 billion to connect every resident in the province with primary care within four years. This includes $1.4 billion in new funding and $400 million in already-approved funding. This would involve creating 305 additional family health teams to attach approximately two million more people to primary care by 2029.

The PCs have said a “re-elected PC government will continue to implement the Ontario Primary Care Action Plan led by Dr. Jane Philpott.”

Ford has also promised to open two new medical schools at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University and require all Ontario medical schools to allocate at least 95 per cent of all undergraduate medical school seats to Ontario residents, with the other five per cent reserved for students from the rest of Canada.

Liberals to spend $3.1 billion

Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals have said if elected, they will spend $3.1 billion to link every Ontario resident with a family doctor in the next four years. The plan includes attracting, recruiting, retaining, and integrating 3,100 family doctors by 2029.

The Ontario Liberal leader says she will also create two new medical schools and expand capacity in existing medical schools, doubling the number of medical school spots and residency positions.

Crombie has also said she will “retain family doctors who have left comprehensive family medicine or are nearing retirement” by spending $250 million over four years in “targeted retention efforts.”

The Liberal leader said she would focus on a “team-based delivery model” to ensure “seamless access to care,” including evening and weekend coverage.

NDP to spend more than $4B

NDP Leader Marit Stiles says her party, if elected, will spend $4.05 billion over four years to hire 3,500 more family doctors. Family health teams are also at the centre of the NDP’s plan to offer more “flexible care options.”

The NDP said it will expand health care in northern Ontario, hiring 350 doctors, including 200 family physicians and 150 specialists. The party also vowed to increase residency spots across the province.

Green Party to recruit 3,500 more doctors

The Green Party has promised to recruit 3,500 more doctors in the province “through more medical schools positions and more residency opportunities for international medical graduates.” This move, the party says, will ensure every Ontarian has a primary care provider within three to four years.

The Greens also say they will work with providers to “dramatically decrease demands on doctors, and move to electronic prescriptions” to allow them to focus on caring for patients.

The party says it will harmonize wages across the health-care system to increase retention of experienced staff and hire more Registered Nurses, Registered Practical Nurses, and Nurse Practitioners.

Ontarians divided on what plan is best

A recent Nanos Research survey of 920 Ontario voters, commissioned by CTV News, found that respondents were split on which party can best deliver on the promise to fix the primary care crisis.

According to the survey, which was released earlier this month, 28 per cent of Ontarians say they believe the Ontario Liberal Party will best deal with the shortage, while 26 per cent said they believe the Progressive Conservatives are best poised to address the issue. About 21 per cent said the Ontario NDP is the party they most trust to tackle the problem.

“Interestingly, none of the major parties have a clear advantage in addressing the doctor shortage,” Nanos Research Chief Data Scientist Nik Nanos said in a statement released on Feb. 14. “Furthermore, one in five Ontarians express a lack of trust in any provincial party to handle this critical issue.”

With files from CP24’s Joshua Freeman