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Ontario invests $4.1M to expand access to primary care in Waterloo Region

The Ontario government is investing $4.1 million this year to help connect more residents in Waterloo Region to a family doctor or primary care provider. The funding is part of Ontario's $2.1 billion Primary Care Action Plan, which aims to connect 300,000 people across the province to publicly funded primary care services. Local health teams receiving funding include Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo, New Vision Family Health Team, Waterloo Region Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic and Woolwich Community Health Centre. '[It will] connect thousands of residents across Waterloo Region to the care they deserve,' said Mike Harris, MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga, in a media release. 'I'm proud to see our region leading the way in building a more connected and accessible health-care system.' announcement MPP for Kitchener-Conestoga Mike Harris and MPP for Kitchener South-Hespeler Jess Dixon at Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo. (Hannah Schmidt/CTV Kitchener) Each team was selected through a proposal process that prioritized communities with high numbers of residents lacking access to primary care — including those currently on the Health Care Connect waitlist. According to the province, the selected teams have committed to attaching a 'high proportion' of unattached residents in their designated postal codes within the next year. 'We have not been able to intake as many patients as we should be,' said Tara Groves-Taylor, CEO of Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo. 'We sit at about 130 per cent of our capacity at our current numbers. We serve over 26, 000 patients. I think we're in an incredible position to lead a lot of this work, whether it be through the primary care, through the Heart Hubs or any other funding that we are benefiting from here in Kitchener-Waterloo. We are leaders.' The province says these investments will expand the work of local teams already serving vulnerable populations and support efforts to reduce wait times and gaps in access. The investment is part of more than $235 million allocated in 2025–26 for over 130 new and expanded primary care teams province-wide.