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![handle is hein.journals/appndx28 and id is 1 raw text is:
RESPONDING TO CANADA'S HEALTH
CARE DEFICIT FOR UNDERSERVED
COMMUNITIES
MICHAEL SULLIVAN*
Abstract
Canada's health care system, which is managed at the provincial level with
federal transfer payments under the purview of the Canada Health Act ( CHA ),
is failing to ensure that all Canadian residents have access to primary care
providers and specialists. An estimated 6.5 million Canadians do not have access
to a family doctor or general practitioner.1 This shortfall is increasing with the
retirement of physicians in the baby boom generation that are not replaced by a
smaller demographic cohort of recent medical graduates with less interest in
working in family medicine outside major cities.2 This problem is especially
acute in rural, remote, northern, and Indigenous communities in the province of
Ontario.3 This Article argues that the federal government has a responsibility to
use immigration policy to increase the supply of physicians to fulfill its access
mandate under the CHA,4 working with the provinces which manage insurance,
licensing of professionals, and delivery of services.5 To increase the supply of
doctors in rural areas, there should be a new immigration program the
Underserved Medical Temporary Visa Program (UMTVP)-allowing more
foreign physicians to practice in Canada if they agree to serve in a rural, remote,
* Michael Sullivan is a researcher with the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'Evaluation des
Politiques Publiques (LIEPP) at Sciences Po in Paris, France where he completed this study in 2024.
LIEPP benefits from support from the France 2030 investment plan through IdEx Universit6 Paris Cit6
(ANR-18-IDEX-0001).
1. Diana Duong & Lauren Vogel, National Survey Highlights Worsening Primary Care Access, 195
CANADIAN MED. Ass'N J. 592, 592 (2023).
2. Ryan Patrick Jones, Family Doctor Shortage Affects Every Region and Is Getting Worse, Ontario
Medical Association Says, CBC NEWS (Jan. 29, 2024), https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/family-
doctor-shortage-oma-1.7097935 [https://perma.cc/ARA7-PPJH].
3. Kristin Burnett et al., Indigenous Peoples, Settler Colonialism, and Access to Health Care in
Rural and Northern Ontario, HEALTH & PLACE, Jan. 31, 2020, at 1.
4. Canada Health Act, R.S.C. 1985, c C-6.
5. See Canada Health Act, Gov'T OF CAN. (May 6, 2024), https://www.canada.ca/en/health-
canada/services/health-care-system/canada-health-care-system-medicare/canada-health-act.html
[https://perma.cc/7G2V-SQES]; see infra Part II.
1](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/appndx28&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)