By Dr. Joss Reimer
Canada must act quickly to attract the American medical and scientific professionals who no longer feel valued in Trump’s United States with its mass layoffs and the elimination of health programs and research positions. While this period brings with it many challenges for Canada, it also offers unique opportunities.
We continue to see reports of U.S. medical graduates exploring options to practise in Canada – a 583 per cent increase in registrations to an online portal for Canadian and international medical graduates that facilitates the key first steps to obtaining licensure. Provinces British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Saskatchewan have taken steps to reduce barriers and ramp up recruitment. Health authorities such as Toronto’s University Health Network, medical associations like Doctors Manitoba and municipalities like Williams Lake, B.C. have all launched creative recruitment efforts.
This is positive news for Canadians who need health care and health workers who need support, but the reality is that recruiting physicians and other health workers cannot solely be a patchwork effort. It must be a national priority.
The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is urging the federal government to streamline processes to help health professionals enter Canada’s health workforce more efficiently. This must include modernizing immigration policies to support the hospitals, health authorities, provinces and territories that are out recruiting health workers today. Government should also leverage ministerial exemptions to create a streamlined, expedited pathway for qualified U.S. physicians and other health professionals to enter Canada’s health workforce more efficiently.
We are also calling on each of the federal party leaders to commit to these actions to improve access to care. In a time when approximately 6.5 million Canadians do not have regular access to primary care, governments must be pulling all levers to ensure the health system can provide that care. Canada has a unique opportunity in this moment to take advantage of this brain gain to become a scientific and medical powerhouse.
Dr. Joss Reimer is the President, Canadian Medical Association.