Ontario Investing an Additional $909,335 to Expand Primary Care Workforce in Ottawa Investment will add 9 health-care workers to local primary care teams as part of Ontario’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan

NEWS February 13, 2026

OTTAWA — The Ontario government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to protect Ontario’s health-care system by investing $30 million to expand the province’s primary care health-care workforce. This new funding will upskill over 1,400 registered nurses for primary care, create 170 primary care nurse practitioner education seats and add up to 150 physician assistant education seats as part of the government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan to connect everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029. “Our government is continuing to take bold action to further protect Ontario’s world-class health-care workforce now and for years to come,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “By increasing the number of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, while upskilling registered nurses, we are taking one more step towards our goal of ensuring everyone can connect to primary care.”
In Ottawa this includes creating 9 primary care nurse practitioner education seats at University of Ottawa. This expansion will create more nurse practitioners in Ontario working in primary care, enabling faster and easier access for families across the province. “Our government is making targeted investments to strengthen Ontario’s health-care workforce and improve access to care in our communities,” said George Darouze, MPP for Carleton. “By funding nine new nurse practitioner seats at the University of Ottawa, we’re helping train more highly skilled professionals who will play a critical role in delivering high-quality, patient-centred care where it’s needed most.”
“Today’s investment builds on our government’s critical work to protect Ontario’s health-care workforce today, and into the future,” said Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. “This new upskilling program and seat expansions will ensure that Ontario continues to have highly skilled workers to connect more people across the province to compassionate health care, close to home.”

QUICK FACTS

“Investing in our primary care workforce in Ottawa means real improvements for families in Eastern Ontario,” said Stéphane Sarrazin, MPP for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell. “These new nurse practitioner seats will help train more local health-care professionals, making it easier for residents to access timely, high-quality care close to home.”
Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, the Ontario government continues to take bold and decisive action to grow the province’s highly skilled health-care workforce and ensure people and their families have access to high-quality care, closer to home, for generations to come.

•The primary care upskilling program for registered nurses is a 12-week program that provides additional education and training to support working in primary care settings. Upon completion, registered nurses will receive a certificate from the program.
•
Since the launch of the government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, Ontario has already attached over 275,000 new patients to a primary care provider, putting the province on track to meet or exceed its target of connecting 300,000 new people to care in 2025-26 and every Ontarian to a primary care provider by 2029.
•
The government is investing in the largest medical school education expansion in more than a decade by adding 340 undergraduate seats and 551 postgraduate positions by 2028-29, representing a 67 per cent increase in family medicine graduates.

• Nurse practitioners have an expanded scope of practice and can diagnose, order and interpret diagnostic tests, prescribe medications and perform specific procedures, making them essential in primary care environments.
• Since 2018, Ontario has added over 100,000 new nurses and nearly 20,000 additional physicians to its health-care workforce, including an over 14 per cent increase in family doctors.
  •
  Ontario is taking significant steps to strengthen its health-care workforce by making it easier for U.S.-licensed nurses and board-certified physicians to move to and practise in Ontario. In 2025, over 1,700 nurses and more than 450 doctors from the US have already chosen Ontario.
  •
  In August 2025, the Ontario government invested $56.8 million to train 2,200 more nurses for communities across the province.

QUOTES

“At a time when more than 250,000 people in the Ottawa region are facing daily life without a family doctor or nurse practitioner, we applaud Minister Sylvia Jones’ sustained investments to support the work of the University of Ottawa and its health care partners to protect and grow access to primary care in Eastern Ontario. In addition to training more nurse practitioners, the University of Ottawa has also implemented a local recruitment strategy to train more physicians from our region, and we are developing a groundbreaking new interdisciplinary primary care hub centred around new teaching clinics funded by Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan. In keeping with these major investments in healthcare priorities, the University’s new Advanced Medical Research Centre, which is slated to open late 2026, will ensure healthcare in our region continues to be powered by transformational, world-class research.”

Marie Eve Sylvestre, President and Vice-Chancellor – University of Ottawa

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Ontario Connecting Over 300,000 People to Primary Care Teams
• Ontario Taking Next Steps to Protect Primary Care
• Ontario Investing Over $1.8 Billion to Connect Every Person in Ontario to a Family Doctor and Primary Care Teams
• Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care
  MEDIA CONTACT
  
  Noémie Prevost Communications Coordinator Office of MPP Stéphane Sarrazin 613-677-8347 Noemie.prevost@pc.ola.org