Some international medical graduates could be shut out from the best residency spots after the shift from Doug Ford’s government.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press

Last week, the Ontario government decreed that, going forward, only medical school graduates who previously completed at least two years of high school in the province will be eligible to apply for medical residency spots in Ontario.

It’s a seemingly simple change that has huge implications.

The greatest beneficiaries of the new policy will be Ontarians who studied medicine abroad, in places like Ireland, Poland and the Caribbean, where they pay annual tuition fees of $80,000 or more. This small, wealthy group will now be treated on a par with graduates of Canadian medical schools, instead of being treated as international medical graduates (IMGs).

The big losers in this puzzling shift from Doug Ford’s government will be other international medical graduates, most of whom will now be........

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