From downtown Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal to Canmore, Alberta, and Truro, Nova Scotia, Canadians deserve access to timely, high-quality health care—where and when they need it.
That according to the Government of Canada which says the cost of education and training for nurses and doctors is high and can discourage many talented Canadians from pursuing their career of choice. The Government of Canada says it is taking the next steps to strengthen the Canadian workforce and reduce costs and expenses for healthcare workers.
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, announced that the policy to increase loan forgiveness by 50 per cent is now in effect for doctors and nurses working in under-served rural and remote communities.
With these changes, officials say up to $60,000 will be forgiven for a family physician or family medicine resident, and up to $30,000 for a nurse or nurse practitioner.
This is said to be a 50 per cent increase to the maximum amount of forgivable Canada Student Loans for eligible family physicians, family medicine residents, nurses and nurse practitioners working in under-served rural and remote communities. Officials say approximately 3,000 doctors and nurses will benefit in the first year of implementation, reaching up to 8,000 per year by 2032–2033.
This 50 per cent increase in Canada Student Loan forgiveness is expected to attract nearly 1,200 new doctors and 4,000 new nurses to under-served rural and remote communities across the country over a 10-year period.
According to experts, these changes strengthen the health workforce in rural and remote communities by helping to attract and retain health workers. They also say these changes make debt loads more manageable for the family physicians, family medicine residents, nurses and nurse practitioners who work in these under-served areas.
According to the federal officials, these changes are in addition to the Government of Canada’s historic investment of over $200 billion over 10 years to improve health care for Canadians.
“During the pandemic, we saw first-hand how important our health workforce is, especially in rural and remote communities,” says the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages. He continues, “With these regulatory changes, we are improving our support for health workers as well as offering needed quality health care to people living in Canada’s under-served rural and remote communities.”
The Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health says, “Health workers are the backbone of Canada’s health care system. Without a sustained and efficient workforce, Canadians cannot access the care they need, when they need it. These regulatory changes will support the recruitment and retention of health workers in rural and remote communities, where there are significant needs right now.”
