As political tensions and health-care layoffs roil the United States, a surge of American doctors appears to be looking north for new opportunities — and provinces and Canadian recruiters are taking notice.
With Canada’s doctor shortage still growing, provinces and health-care agencies are looking to tap into this interest, hoping to bring in more skilled professionals to help fill gaps in patient care.
The Medical Council of Canada (MCC) told Global News the number of U.S. medical graduates opening accounts on physiciansapply.ca — a key step toward obtaining a medical licence in Canada — has risen 583 per cent between October 2024 and March 2025 compared to the same period last year.
“In addition, we have observed a slight increase in inquiries from U.S. medical graduates to our service desk. Over the past two months, our agents have received approximately 100 calls per month from U.S.-based locations, marking a 33 per cent increase compared to September and October 2024,” an MCC spokesperson told Global News in an email on Tuesday.
This trend is crucial as Canada continues to face significant health-care challenges, including physician shortages, health-care worker burnout and long emergency room wait times.
The potential influx of U.S. doctors presents an opportunity to ease some of these pressures, filling much-needed gaps in Canada’s health-care system, explained Michelle Flynn, COO of CanAm Physician Recruiting, a health-care recruitment firm based in Nova Scotia.
The firm helps doctors navigate Canada’s licensing and credentialing systems, working with them to make sure they’re properly certified to practice in Canada.
While they help physicians from all over the world, many of their clients are based in the U.S.
“We have always worked with a lot of U.S. physicians wanting to come to Canada. However, there has been a very marked increase over the last several months,” she said. “I would say, at the moment, just about every doctor that I’m talking to is from the U.S.”
Some are Canadians currently training in the U.S. and hoping to move back, she said, while many others are U.S. citizens looking to practice in Canada.
So, why the move to Canada?
Flynn says there are many factors driving doctors to head north, but a big concern for many American doctors is the political climate and how health care, especially women’s health care, is being handled and changing.
A lot of them are also thinking about their families, she said.
“They’re bringing up concerns about wanting to raise their children in a safer, kinder society. There are definitely a lot of factors coming into play here,” she said.
While some doctors are simply inquiring about working in Canada, Flynn added that many are already in the process of moving and getting their credentials.
Due to the growing interest in working in Canada, she said she typically conducts three candidate interviews a day, three days a week. But with demand surging — up 60 per cent in the last 90 days — she’s had to make more time to meet with doctors looking to make the move.
As for Canadians looking to work in the U.S., she said job opportunities have come up there as well.
“And I’m not getting any takers to go,” Flynn said.
She said she’s hopeful that more U.S. doctors will make their way to Canada, helping to fill gaps in the country’s ongoing doctor shortage.
“I mean, it’s not going to fill every position that we have, but it is certainly helping,” she added.
Provinces seize U.S. doctor interest
It’s not just recruiters looking to bring in U.S. medical talent — provinces are jumping on the opportunity, too.
Doctors Manitoba has been actively recruiting U.S. physicians, even running ads in Florida, South Dakota and North Dakota.
Doctors Manitoba CEO Theresa Oswald said this push comes from a pattern they’ve seen before — when changes in the U.S. government make physicians feel like politics is interfering with patient care.
“We have seen over thirty queries to our advertisement about the positives of considering practice in Manitoba,” Oswald said in a statement.
“While we are not the official recruiting body for the Province of Manitoba, we do want to highlight the opportunity here so physicians from the U.S. and elsewhere will strongly see the upside of practicing in Manitoba.”
And with issues surrounding abortion rights and gender-affirming care in certain states, Oswald says they’re trying to pounce on doctor dissatisfaction.
“Physicians want to be able to have that relationship with their patients, whatever it is they need,” Oswald said.
The British Columbia government, along with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., is working to bring in more doctors and nurses from the U.S. by speeding up credential recognition and rolling out a targeted recruitment campaign.
In a statement posted on March 11, B.C. announced that U.S.-trained doctors with certification from the American Board of Medical Specialties will soon be able to get fully licensed in the province without needing additional assessments, exams or training.
This move removes barriers for U.S. doctors looking to practice in B.C.
These streamlined licensing practices are already in place in provinces such as Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
“With the uncertainty and chaos happening south of our border, we have an unprecedented opportunity to attract skilled health-care workers interested in moving to Canada,” B.C. Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, said in the statement.
“Our message to doctors and nurses working in the U.S. is that now is the time to come to British Columbia. We will welcome you to our beautiful province where together we can strengthen public health care, deliver services for people and build healthy communities.”
The provinces also plan to ramp up targeted recruitment and marketing campaigns in Washington, Oregon and California in the spring.
— With files from Global News’ Kevin Hirschfield