Province ‘welcomes’ federal plan to improve national doctor shortage

The federal government announced new measures making the path to permanent residency for international doctors easier.

The federal government announced new measures on Monday that will make the path to permanent residency for international doctors easier.

It comes at a time when nearly six million Canadians don’t have a primary care physician, according to data from the Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) OurCare survey.

Ottawa will change immigration rules to create a new “express entry” category for international doctors with at least one year of Canadian work experience in an eligible occupation.

It will also reserve 5,000 admission spaces for provinces and territories to nominate licensed doctors with job offers starting early next year.

“It’s estimated that around 13,000 internationally trained physicians in Canada are not working in their field. The changes announced today will help put their skills to work sooner, close staffing gaps and provide more support to patients,” said Dr. Margot Burnell, CMA president.

The province isn’t confirming how many of the positions Alberta will be eligible for but says it “welcomes” the plan.

“Alberta welcomes federal efforts to reduce barriers for foreign-trained physicians, which align with the actions we are already taking to strengthen access to care and can build on the success we’re already seeing in growing our physician workforce, including in recruiting internationally trained physicians. As of Dec. 1, Alberta had 13,576 registered physicians, up 1,364 from Dec. 31, 2024, setting a new record for the province,” read a statement from the Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services.

The Alberta Medical Association (AMA) also calls this “welcome news” but believes it is a “stopgap measure.”

“We welcome them, but we also want to ensure that our own young people are able to get into health care, (that) those that want to get into health care are able to get spots in medical school and residency training programs so that we actually have a kind of a really bright future for health care long-term, and we’re not always relying on foreign-trained physicians to prop up our system,” said Dr. Brian Wirzba, AMA president.

Wirzba also says there are a lot of questions about how this will be put into practice in Alberta.

“It’s up to the college to recognize credentials and look at exactly what types of practice these folks might be able to participate in. It’s up to the provinces to then assign billing numbers and then (determine) where these individuals might work,” said Wirzba.