Local family health team calls for action to stabilize primary care at Ontario budget hearings

Dr. Ruth Wilson, a family physician in Kawartha Lakes and president of the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team, appeared before the Ontario government’s finance committee today, accompanied by Mike Perry, the team’s executive director, to advocate for urgent investments in family health care.

“The province has made historic commitments to attach $2 million more Ontarians to family doctors by 2029. That goal is achievable—but only if we stabilize the foundation,” Wilson told the committee. “Right now, that foundation is struggling.”

The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team serves some 27,000 patients. It is estimated that more than 10,000 local residents don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner and more than 35 per cent of walk-in clinic visits are by residents without a family doctor. “That is extremely draining on the system and very, very expensive,” Wilson said.

Family health teams across the province are facing workforce challenges as nurse practitioners, registered nurses, RPNs, social workers, pharmacists, medical receptionists, and other family health professionals seek higher wages at hospitals, community organizations, and now private clinics. Although the government committed $119 million to help close the pay gap, only 19 per cent of the funding has been released as of October.

“It’s hard to staff the teams we have, let alone expand,” Wilson said. “Family health teams province-wide are losing staff while we wait for money that’s already been budgeted.”

Perry outlined to the finance committee MPPs two concrete solutions needed in the upcoming 2026 budget:

First, immediately release the remaining $115 million in committed family health care professional funding. “Just get it into our hands so we can stabilize the workforce,” Perry said. This funding supports registered nurses,  RPNs, pharmacists, social workers, dietitians, and medical receptionists who enable physicians and nurse practitioners to take on more patients. “Without them, it just doesn’t work.”

Second, invest $430 million over five years to close the compensation gap. “The 2025 funding provided only a 2.7 per cent increase after six years of no raises. The actual pay difference is 15 to 30 per cent between sectors,” Perry said. “Together, these investments would provide more specific care for our patients and generate $1.2 billion in savings longer term by keeping local residents in better health, preventing illness, and reducing the need for hospital care and emergency room and after-hours clinic visits. The funds also translate more residents getting a family doctor or nurse practitioner,” Perry added.

“When it’s properly resourced, team-based care delivers better health outcomes at lower cost,” Wilson said.

“This is about patients, but it’s also about values we all share: health, care, and access,” Perry agreed.

Wilson and Perry closed with a call to action. “We’re ready. We have the passion, the expertise, and the commitment to deliver. What we need from the next Ontario budget is the foundation to stand on.”