Marjorie Michel
Canada’s Minister of Health
Canada’s Minister of Health — Marjorie Michel discusses workforce challenges, health care careers, and the future of care delivery across Canada.
Q1. Canada’s healthcare workforce is facing significant pressures, from labour shortages to growing patient demand. What do you see as the biggest challenges facing Canada’s healthcare workforce today?
The main challenge is that demand is outpacing increases in supply. Provincial, territorial and federal governments are increasing the number of health professionals in the health care system but Canada’s aging population and the growing complexity of patient needs, means that patients require access to a range of health care providers to help manage their conditions.
Challenging working conditions and even workplace violence can lead to feelings of stress and burnout, and leaves workers reconsidering their future in health care.
Another key challenge is transforming the delivery of primary care to address these pressures on the health care system. We need to break away from existing models and move towards team-based primary care models where health workers from various disciplines work together to address patients’ range of health needs can help provide more reliable care. Team-based primary care can also make it easier to integrate virtual care, redistribute patient loads, and reduce wait times.
Q2. What is the federal government doing to help attract, train, and retain the healthcare professionals needed to meet Canada’s future healthcare needs?
The Government of Canada is actively working together with provinces and territories to uphold our shared responsibility for health care, and we remain firmly committed to supporting health care workers.
In 2023, we invested close to $200 billion over 10 years through the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan. This includes $25 billion of funding through tailored bilateral agreements to meet the specific needs of each province and territory, such as support for the health workforce.
Together with the provinces and territories and other partners, the Government of Canada is supporting the long-term integration and retention of Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHPs) in the health workforce. Budget 2024 committed up to $77.1 million to effectively integrate internationally educated health professionals into the Canadian health workforce through three streams of initiatives: improved navigation of foreign credential recognition systems; creation of up to 120 new family medicine training positions; and increased assessment capacity. Health Canada is currently finalizing agreements for projects that deliver on these objectives.
The Government of Canada also announced the creation of a new Express Entry category for international physicians to work and stay here, and the reservation of federal admissions spaces for provinces and territories to nominate doctors, with faster processing. These measures will help bring in and retain practice-ready doctors to fill health care labour gaps, so they can continue to provide critical services to Canadians.
This builds on the $86 million provided to 15 organizations across Canada to increase capacity for foreign credential recognition of approximately 6,600 IEHPs. This investment supported highly educated and skilled immigrants to ensure they receive proper recognition for their international credentials.
Budget 2025 also committed $97 million to establish a Foreign Credential Action Fund that will help qualified foreign-trained professionals contribute more quickly to Canada’s health workforce.
The Nursing Retention Toolkit, a resource, created by nurses for nurses, draws on the expertise of the nursing community to provide employers and health care organizations with practical strategies and tools to improve the working conditions and retention of nurses.
Q3. Healthcare careers offer an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on people’s lives. What would you say to students, recent graduates, and career changers who are considering a future in healthcare?
There has never been a more important time to join Canada’s health workforce. Health care is about improving lives, supporting communities, and making a real difference for people when they need it most. When patients get the care they need, they live fuller lives and give their best back to society to build Canada strong.
Whether you’re interested in becoming a nurse, physician, personal support worker, paramedic, therapist, researcher, or pursuing one of the many other careers that helps make our health system stronger, you will have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact every day.
The Government of Canada is strengthening Canada’s health workforce and actively creating opportunities for the next generation of healthcare professionals. In addition to the investments noted above, we are also focused on measures to incentivize people to join the workforce. The Government expanded the Canada Student Loan Forgiveness benefit as of December 31, 2025, to include 10 new healthcare and social service occupations, such as: dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, midwives, personal support workers, physiotherapists, and psychologists.
We are also focused on modernizing systems with digital tools and support innovative models of practice, like team-based care, to improve efficiency across the system.
We need talented, compassionate people from all backgrounds to help build a stronger, more accessible health system for the future.
Q4. As healthcare continues to evolve, what skills and professions do you believe will be most critical to the future of Canada’s healthcare system?
It is critical to support the health workforce so they have the skills to adapt and make effective use of new innovations and tools.This includes a health workforce that can safely use health data and digital tools, including AI. These tools will help enhance the efficiency and equity in care, support providers’ capacity to make diagnoses, and reduce administrative burden on health care providers, to give them more time with their patients.
We will need all professions working to their full scopes of practice — like pharmacists administering vaccines, or nurse practitioners ordering diagnostic tests and prescribing medications — so that Canadians can have timely access to care.
Q5. Looking ahead, what is your vision for building a stronger and more resilient healthcare workforce for Canadians?
My vision for Canada’s health workforce is one where the value of all health care workers is recognized and supported by the health care system.
- Where our health care workers have access to and are able to leverage the latest innovations to deal with the increasing complexities of care.
- Where work environments foster safe working conditions and allow for healthcare workers to work closely together and apply their scopes of practice to meaningfully care for patients.
- Where IEHPs seamlessly join the health workforce and contribute their skills and abilities.
- And, where prospective members of the health workforce see it as a rewarding career pathway.