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Ontario’s healthcare system is already stretched to the breaking point, with hospital wait times longer than ever before, more than 2.5 million residents without a family doctor, and the system teetering on the edge of collapse for years.

Yet at the same time, the provincial government continues to divert tax dollars to maternity services that are increasingly used by non-residents, including those who enter Canada as tourists or without legal status, effectively allowing their children to obtain citizenship simply by being born here.

Although Premier Doug Ford recently called for slower immigration, his government’s policies quietly sustain a well-known loophole that delivers instant citizenship — and the full suite of future Canadian benefits — to babies born on Ontario soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration or financial status.

Doug Ford says he's "all pro-immigration" but concedes it's time to "slow down" because health care, housing, and jobs are being impacted. pic.twitter.com/QJXTnjXKaq

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) August 20, 2025

Birth tourism is not a fringe phenomenon. For years, wealthy foreigners have travelled to Canada specifically to give birth, securing one of the world’s most powerful passports for their child: lifelong access to healthcare, education, social services and global mobility, all without prior tax contribution.

Though numbers dipped temporarily during the COVID pandemic, the data now shows a clear rebound: thousands of non-resident births were recorded in Ontario in 2024 and 2025, placing the province at the centre of a nationwide trend, with Quebec and British Columbia not far behind.

Data from 2023-2024 alone tallied roughly 2,775 ‘non-resident’ births.

What many Ontarians do not realize is that much of this care is now subsidized by taxpayers. While some of these non-residents pay privately, an expanding portion relies on provincially funded programs.

The Ontario Association of Midwives (OAM) operates under the Ministry of Health and received nearly $209 million for midwifery services in the 2025-26 fiscal year. Through uninsured-care pathways administered by transfer payment agencies, so-called “undocumented” or uninsured clients can access prenatal care, laboratory services, specialist referrals, hospital deliveries and postpartum support with providers being reimbursed at rates that closely mirror the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP).

An insider with direct knowledge of the program, speaking anonymously, described four primary channels through which non-resident births are funded:

1. Standard OHIP billing for those holding valid health cards;
2. The federal Interim Federal Health Program for refugee claimants;
3. Out-of-pocket payments by wealthier birth tourists; and
4. Provincially funded uninsured midwifery and community clinic services — the pathway, the source says, is quietly being exploited.

Eligibility hinges on a loosely defined claim of local residency or connection rather than any sort of tangible criteria or legal immigration status. Oversight appears minimal, and there is little expectation of repayment, even when clients come in who can afford private care.

The Association of Midwives even advocated for expanding and entrenching the program last year, citing an average cost of $1,953 per client based on 2014 numbers. They pushed for this amount to be updated to reflect inflation and additional procedures, with no apparent cap on usage.

Conservative MPs, including immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner, have repeatedly warned that open-ended migrant health programs invite exploitation.

Why would birth tourism be any different?

When contacted for comment on program usage, total costs, eligibility criteria, oversight mechanisms and safeguards against misuse, both the Ontario Ministry of Health and the Association of Midwives did not respond.

At a moment when 2.5 million Ontarians are without a family doctor, children die in emergency departments waiting for care, and Canadians are directed toward medically assisted death rather than treatment, the taxpayers are increasingly expected to shoulder the cost of healthcare for those who have never contributed to the system that is now failing the people who built and funded it.

Why are Canadian taxpayers being asked to subsidize citizenship shopping while their own access to care deteriorates?