Ontario Supporting New Primary Care Teaching Clinic in Niagara
January 14, 2026
Beamsville – The Ontario government is investing up to $8 million to support planning for sixteen new and expanded primary care teaching clinics – including a clinic in Niagara – to connect 300,000 more people across the province to primary care. This investment is part of the government’s $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan to connect everyone in Ontario to primary care by 2029.
“This expansion of primary care teaching clinics across the province – including a new clinic in Niagara – will not only connect more people to convenient care but will help train future doctors and nurses deliver high-quality care for generations to come,” said Sam Oosterhoff, MPP for Niagara West.
“Having participated in the grand opening of our new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital this past November, I look forward to welcoming another health-care site connected to McMaster University and Hamilton Health Sciences to our region.”
“These new primary care teaching clinics will further protect our health-care system by training the next generation of primary care clinicians, right here in Ontario,” said Hon. Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
“This builds on our government’s unprecedented investments in primary care that will ensure anyone who wants to connect to a primary care clinician can have reliable access to primary care, no matter where they live.”
Each teaching clinic will receive up to $500,000 to support planning work. In partnership with Ontario’s medical schools, these clinics will train family medicine residents in a team-based model alongside other health-care professionals, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and registered nurses. These clinics will offer training that combines direct patient care with hands-on learning in team-based environments, all while providing primary care for an additional 300,000 people. Initial teaching clinics are targeted to open in 2027-28, with further expansion to follow.
“Hands-on learning is critical to ensuring our health care students can hit the ground running and provide exceptional care upon graduation,” said Hon. Nolan Quinn, Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security.
“The new and expanded primary care clinics will not only equip our future doctors and nurses with the skills they need to thrive but also connect more people in Ontario to compassionate health care, close to home.”
This funding is part of the government’s broader investment of up to $300 million – part of the $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan – to build new and expanded community-based primary care teaching clinics in areas with high rates of unattachment.
In addition to funding planning grants for sixteen new and expanded teaching clinics, two new primary care teaching clinics at Toronto Metropolitan University will bring the total to eighteen clinics. Together with other historic investments in new medical school seats, creating over 130 new and expanded primary care teams and adding nearly 20,000 new physicians to the health-care system, these initiatives are helping to connect Ontario families to primary care, beginning with clearing the Health Care Connect waitlist as of January 1, 2025. As of this week, that waitlist has been reduced by more than seventy-five percent.
“This investment in critical infrastructure will strengthen team-based primary care in Ontario,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, Chair of Ontario’s Primary Care Action Team.
“These new teaching clinics will train the next generation of family physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health professionals to work in teams while delivering vital care to patients who currently lack access.”
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.