The Government of Ontario will be partnering with McMaster University and six other post-secondary institutions across the province to launch 17 “new and expanded community-based primary care teaching clinics in communities with high rates of unattachment to primary care.”
The clinics will train family doctors and other health care professionals, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and registered nurses.
The plan is supported with up to $300 million in funds.
The clinics will reportedly combine direct patient care with hands-on learning, thereby allowing about 300,000 Ontarians to be connected to primary care.
The province is expected to announce further details on where the clinics will be located this summer.
However, the primary care teaching clinics are being launched in partnership with McMaster University, Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) University, Queen’s University, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, and Western University.
The Ontario government also passed the Primary Care Act, 2025, which makes Ontario the first Canadian jurisdiction to establish a framework for its publicly funded primary care system.
The Act received Royal Assent on June 5, 2025.
The province says that the framework will ensure that people in Ontario “know what they can expect when accessing primary care services, no matter where they live.”
The legislation is also a part of the government’s Primary Care Action Plan, which has the goal of connecting everyone in Ontario to a family doctor or primary care team over the next four years.
Dr. Jane Philpott, who was formerly a Minister in Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government but is now the Chair of Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team, says that the legislation is “groundbreaking” and that the “substantial investment in primary care teaching clinics marks a significant milestone for Ontario’s primary care system.”
“By expanding capacity to train family medicine learners, along with proposing to establish clear objectives in legislation, we are working toward ensuring that primary care will be accessible for all.”
As part of the province’s latest investment, up to $60 million in funding this year will support the early capital planning for new and expanded primary care teaching clinics, as well as supporting the operation of Toronto Metropolitan University’s two primary care teaching clinics at its new medical school in Brampton.
Next month, Toronto Metropolitan University will start teaching the first classes for its 95 new undergraduate education seats and its 117 postgraduate seats, with 70 in family medicine.
Ontario currently has 39 teaching clinics across the province where medical residents train to become family doctors.
Family medicine residents typically spend up to two years training at a teaching clinic before graduation.
The government is also investing in the largest medical school education expansion in more than a decade by adding 340 seats for family medicine by 2028-29, representing a 67 per cent increase in family medicine learners.
They have also announced an investment of $213 million to create and expand up to 80 additional primary care teams across the province, aiming to connect 300,000 more people to primary care this year.
That comes after the province has added nearly 100,000 new nurses and over 15,000 new physicians to the health care system since 2018.
Dr. Jobin Varughese, the President of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, said in a press release, “Investments that support the training of more family doctors and team members in community-based teaching clinics are an important part of the solution. These steps to ensure every Ontarian has access to a family physician reflect the urgency of the moment, and we look forward to seeing how these investments will also help family physicians thrive in their work.”
Dr. Paul O’Byrne, Dean and Vice-President of the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University and Dean of the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, added, “We welcome this investment to create new Primary Care Teaching Clinics and look forward to working with the government to ensure that family physicians and other primary care providers have the skills and education required to meet the healthcare needs of the people of Hamilton region and our surrounding communities.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
