Pre-Budget Submission: MLT Shortage Crisis in Ontario Laboratories
- mlpaont
- Feb 23, 2021
- 1 min read
This month, the Ministry of Finance confirmed receipt of our Pre-Budget Submission on the MLT Shortage Crisis in Ontario Laboratories.
This document outlines the roots of this issue and shares some current statistics about the shortage. We explain the major road blocks of training and clinical placements, as well as highlighting some currently under-served areas.
Our recommendations to the government are as follows:
Fund 150 additional seats in MLT programs across Ontario: Cambrian College (Sudbury), St. Lawrence College (Kingston), St. Clair College (Windsor), OTU (Oshawa), Michener (Toronto).
Provide capital funding to increase training laboratory capacity in educational institutions.
Funding for 10 clinical placement preceptors to facilitate practical training in major hospitals.
New Grad Incentive Program – funding for students completing placements in rural and remote communities.
We look forward to meeting with officials in the coming months to discuss this action plan!
It’s encouraging to see this issue formally acknowledged, because the MLT shortage has real downstream impacts on patient care and system capacity. Laying out the root causes—especially training bottlenecks and limited clinical placements—helps shift the conversation from symptoms to solutions. In a lighter comparison, it’s a reminder that even in something like smash karts unblocked, progress stalls when key resources are missing; systems only work when the pipeline is supported end to end.