Ontario Building New Medical School at York University Focused on Primary Care Doctors

New school is one of a number of provincial initiatives that will help connect up to 98 per cent of Ontario residents to primary care

TORONTO — The Ontario government is providing an initial investment of $9 million through the 2024 budget, Building a Better Ontario, to begin the design and planning for York University’s new medical school in Vaughan. The new medical school will be the first in Canada that is focused on training primary care doctors and is helping fulfill Ontario’s commitment to ensure that everyone who wants to have a primary care provider can access one.

This new medical school will include up to 80 undergraduate seats and up to 102 postgraduate seats starting in September 2028, with up to 240 undergraduate seats and 293 postgraduate seats on an annual basis once operating at full capacity.

By focusing primarily on training family doctors, the York University training model will devote approximately 70 per cent of the new postgraduate training seats to primary care, when the medical school becomes operational in 2028. In addition to other historic investments to increase the number of medical school seats, expand interprofessional primary care teams and efforts to break down barriers so highly skilled internationally trained doctors can care for people in Ontario, Ministry of Health modelling shows that these initiatives will help connect up to 98 per cent of people in Ontario to primary care in the next several years.

Ontario is rolling out the largest expansion of medical education in over 10 years as it continues to build a stronger, more resilient health care system, especially in growing and underserved communities. The expansion includes all six medical schools currently across Ontario, as well as the new medical school at Toronto Metropolitan University when it becomes operational in 2025, adding 260 undergraduate seats and 449 postgraduate positions over the next five years. These seats are in addition to the new seats planned for York University’s new medical school.

The 2024 Budget, Building a Better Ontario, continues to support the province’s work through the Your Health plan to build a robust health system that puts people at the centre of care, making it easier and more convenient for them to connect to care.