Canadian provinces have supercharged their efforts to recruit U.S. health-care workers, taking advantage of the political tumult down south.
The B.C. government is selling West Coast providers on delivering “care for others in a place that cares about you.” The Manitoba government is touting the benefits of affordable housing and family-friendly communities to Midwestern professionals. Other provinces are launching new websites and webinars tailored to Americans.
The interest from physicians is certainly there.
Even before the election of President Donald Trump, interest from U.S. doctors looking to practise in Canada began to climb – and it hasn’t stopped. The Medical Council of Canada saw a 718 per cent jump in U.S. medical graduates verifying credentials on its online portal between November 2024 and April 2025 compared with the same period last year. An exodus of U.S. doctors is a rare opportunity to improve access to care across this country and position Canada as a medical powerhouse. But to capitalize on this unique moment, we need to reduce the hoops that American and other international medical graduates (IMGs) must jump through to work here.
It’s the job of the provinces and territories to regulate medical licensing, and recently, many have been adjusting their requirements to recognize American medical certifications. As of this week, B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island will allow U.S.-trained and Board-certified physicians to begin independent practice immediately, without additional examinations or certification.
In June, the Ontario government expanded its “as of right” legislation to include U.S. Board-certified physicians and removed restrictions that limited practice to hospitals and long-term care facilities. The new provisions also will extend to regulated health professions beyond medicine and nursing.
These are all excellent steps forward. But the biggest barrier to recruiting doctors from across the border and beyond isn’t just licensing, it’s getting a work permit and going through immigration. That’s why the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is urging Ottawa to work with provinces and territories to modernize immigration policies.
One repetitive and time-consuming barrier to recruiting health professionals is the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which requires employers to prove a vacancy needs to be filled by a foreign worker. Given the critical health workforce shortage across Canada, is there any doubt? The CMA continues to advocate for ministerial exemptions that would allow employers to bypass an LMIA during a public health emergency; in this case, to create an expedited pathway for qualified U.S. physicians and other health professionals to address gaps across the continuum of care.
We are also calling on the federal government to scale provincial and territorial best practices like fast-tracking programs for doctors. And we’d like to see the government invest in targeted national recruitment strategies, including funding to support organizations such as the Canadian Society of Physician Recruitment.
While much of this advocacy is focused on U.S. physicians, a simplified immigration and credentialing pathway will benefit all IMGs, who accounted for 27 per cent of Canada’s physician workforce in 2022. Their importance to the health system and economy cannot be overstated, yet many face difficulty navigating a complex licensing process, numerous expensive exams and a lack of residency spots.
Recruiting campaigns like the one in B.C. are having their intended effect, with its Ministry of Health noting that since March 2025, 704 doctors have expressed interest in moving to the province.
It’s up to the federal government now to ensure these highly trained professionals encounter a unified, streamlined process to live and work in Canada, so they can focus on providing quality care to the thousands of Canadians who desperately need it.
