Ontario health minister ‘disappointed’ in feds’ approach to nurse practitioner rules
Written by The Canadian Press on March 25, 2026
TORONTO — Ontario’s health minister says she is “disappointed” the federal government has left provinces and territories on their own to set rules for publicly funding nurse practitioners.
Ottawa has clarified that nurse practitioner services equivalent to what physicians provide are covered by the Canada Health Act’s requirement that medically necessary services are publicly funded, and gave provinces until April 1 to do so.
Despite Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones pushing the federal government years ago for that clarification, the province won’t have a system in place by then for ensuring nurse practitioners are publicly funded.
Jones said today Ontario will be in compliance by April 1, 2027, which is when the federal government says penalties for non-compliance will be in effect.
In defending her timeline today, Jones said the federal government has essentially said “over to you,” and left provinces and territories to create their own solutions, rather than setting a consistent standard across the country.
Nurse practitioners in Ontario work in a variety of settings, including family health teams and community health teams, hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as in more than two dozen publicly funded nurse practitioner-led clinics, but many private ones have been established by nurses who cannot get public funding.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 25, 2026.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press