Increase family doctor access
Petitioners ask the House of Commons to work with provinces and territories to adopt a fair, pan‑Canadian plan to reduce the family doctor shortage and expand access to primary care. The government responds that it is supporting provinces and territories with funding, workforce planning, and measures to integrate internationally educated providers and team‑based primary care.
Why we would sign this petition
- Would seek a coordinated federal–provincial plan to reduce the shortage the petitioners cite (about 4.8 million without a regular doctor) and increase access to regular primary care.
- Could direct attention and resources to rural–urban imbalances and long clinic waits the petition highlights, improving access where shortages are worst.
- A pan‑Canadian approach could improve workforce planning and create consistent strategies across provinces to expand primary‑care coverage.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Health workforce management is primarily a provincial and territorial responsibility; federal involvement may have limited authority or duplicate local efforts.
- Implementing a national plan could be costly and require trade‑offs with other health priorities and provincial budget constraints.
- Provincial or local reforms tailored to specific community needs might be more practical and effective than a broad pan‑Canadian plan.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
PETITION TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED Whereas: Statistics Canada cites that approximately 4.8 million Canadians do not have a regular doctor; Despite the number of physicians in Canada growing, the number of Canadians without a regular doctor remains stable; 92 per cent of physicians work in urban centres, while just 8 per cent work in rural areas; and, In Victoria and Sidney, B.C., average wait time for a walk-in clinic are 92 and 180 minutes respectively, We, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: Work with all the provinces and territories in Canada to come to a holistic and fair solution to Canada's family doctor shortage
Government response
Response by the Minister of Health Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Maggie Chi Primary care is the backbone of high-performing health care, serving as Canadians’ first point of contact with the system and playing a critical role in the delivery of health services. We understand that Canadians still struggle to secure timely access to a regular primary care provider, whether it is from a doctor, nurse practitioner, or team. Pre-existing challenges facing the health workforce were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic where health care workers bore the brunt of the extreme pressures on the health system, leading to significant levels of stress and burnout, including among primary care providers. These persistent challenges are impacting the care that Canadians receive. While the responsibility for the management of the health workforce falls within provincial and territorial (PT) jurisdiction, the federal government provides leadership and financial support, and acknowledges that it has a key leadership role to play in supporting solutions to the challenges facing health systems across the country. We remain committed to continuing to work with provincial and territorial governments to protect and strengthen the publicly funded health care system. The Government of Canada is committed to enabling supportive, sustainable environments where health workers can thrive. Recognizing that the conditions of work are the conditions of care, the federal government is advancing efforts focused on retention, workforce planning, and ethical recruitment. Through partnerships and convening, it continues to build consensus and mobilize evidence to strengthen Canada’s health workforce and innovative models of primary care. For example, the Government of Canada is: Supporting the dissemination and implementation of the “Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada”. Funding Healthcare Excellence Canada, which recently launched its Care Forward initiative, including a Primary Care Access Improvement program. This program helps organizations optimize how primary care teams function so they can provide timely access to care for more people. Published a federal-provincial-territorial (FPT)-endorsed study of the education and training supply and demand for select health care professions, including family physicians, to identify the best pan-Canadian approaches to meet future health care demands for Canadians over the next decade. Funding Health Workforce Canada, which is leading pan-Canadian collaboration on improving health workforce data collection, analysis, and knowledge mobilization to inform planning. Convening key primary care partners, researchers, PTs, experts, and other government departments to drive data and evidence, build consensus, and enable knowledge mobilization on topics such as primary care delivery models, virtual care, nursing, and education and training. Further, Budget 2024 committed up to $77.1M over four years, starting in 2025-26, to strengthen training opportunities and accelerate workforce integration for internationally-educated health professionals (IEHPs). The funding will expand the number of training positions, boost assessment capacity to accelerate licensure, and provide targeted support to help IEHPs navigate credential recognition and enter the workforce more quickly. Alongside PT partners, the federal government is also working to support the streamlining of credential recognition for internationally-trained doctors and nurses so that qualified health care professionals already living in Canada can contribute to our health system. This is in addition to close to $200 billion committed in Budget 2023 to improve health care services for Canadians. This funding includes $25 billion over 10 years to advance shared health priorities through tailored bilateral agreements that support the needs of people in each PT. Signed with every PT, these agreements enable them to act on: expanding access to family health services, including in rural and remote areas; supporting our health workers and reducing backlogs; improving access to quality mental health and substance use services; and modernizing the health care system with standardized health data and digital tools. Transforming the delivery of family health services, including through team-based care, will help Canadians get care when and where they need it. Signed agreements and PT action plans may be viewed at this link: Working together to improve health care in Canada: Working Together bilateral agreements - Canada.ca. The Canada Health Act Services Policy, which comes into effect on April 1, 2026, will further encourage team-based care. The Policy clarifies that patients should not face charges for medically necessary services, if these same services would otherwise have been covered by a PT health insurance plan when provided by a physician. It recognizes the value of the full integration of nurse practitioners into the health care system and their critical role in responding to the primary care gap for people in Canada without access to a primary care provider. Through these various activities, our Government continues to work with provinces and territories to improve Canadians access to a regular primary care provider or team. We are committed to continuing that collaboration.