Ontario, a province in east-central Canada, says it will bar international students from attending its medical schools beginning in 2026.
Doug Ford, Ontario premier, and Sylvia Jones, health minister, said at least 95 percent of medical school spots will be reserved for residents of Ontario.
Students from other parts of Canada will be allocated the remaining five percent, they said on Friday.
These reductions are the result of a series of changes from the Canadian government over the past year, including a cap on international students and tightened eligibility requirements for temporary foreign workers.
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On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced reductions in targets for permanent resident admissions over the next three years as part of plans to cut immigration.
Trudeau said the move is Canada’s efforts to put its citizens at the forefront of economic opportunities.
According to the health ministry, the latest efforts of barring foreign students from medical schools in Ontario will only represent a small shift in enrolment as roughly 88 percent of all spots are already held by residents of the province.
The provincial government is also expanding a program that covers tuition and other educational costs to include students who commit to practising family medicine in Ontario with a “full roster of patients”.
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The Ontario College of Family Physicians says 2.5 million people do not have a family doctor.
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