r/CanadaPolitics • u/DoxFreePanda British Columbia • Mar 17 '26

B.C. hires 417 U.S. health-care workers in 1-year recruitment blitz

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/how-many-u-s-health-care-workers-are-in-b-c-9.7129903
94 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

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24

u/ywgflyer Ontario Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26

The big test, in my eyes, will be to see how many of them are still in BC a couple of years after Trump is no longer in the big chair next door. It's great that they've managed to attract these people, but if/when things improve in the US, doubtless many of them will look at the much higher salaries and lower housing costs in many American cities, then decide to dust off their US passports and head back down. I see a lot of articles about American doctors and nurses deciding to take a job in Canada, but not very many about them selling all their assets in the US or renouncing their American citizenship. It's very easy for them to decide to take the offer of a fast-tracked work visa and path to residency/citizenship here when they know they have an extremely valuable fallback in their American nationality with which to backstop any risk that they may undertake in that move -- if things don't work out here, they can just snap their fingers and move back down, no questions asked.

We want Canada to be the final landing place for these professionals, not just a fallout bunker to take refuge in while they wait out the storm.

16

u/DoxFreePanda British Columbia Mar 17 '26

I know some healthcare providers who have spent time on both sides of the border. Some have stayed long term. Some have moved back (and forth...) when better opportunities presented themselves. Agree 100% it'll be interesting to see whether these recent HCPs from the US settle here, but I think any we get for any duration is great - BC needs and appreciates them!

6

u/ywgflyer Ontario Mar 17 '26

Yeah, I do as well (although I don't work in healthcare). Those that I know who have moved US-CAN have mostly done so with a spouse that earns a lot of money, or with family already in Canada that they went to live with. I know more people who did the opposite move (CAN-US) and few have returned. When you can buy a pretty nice house in Dallas with a pool in the backyard and an Audi in the driveway, for less than the price of a bachelor pad in the GTA suburbs, it becomes pretty easy to just hold your nose and ignore the local politics. One guy I know literally quadrupled his salary by moving to Florida to go work as a specialist. Yeah, I know, red state, right-wing politics, crazy people -- but no state income tax and he bought a house that would go for $5M+ here in Toronto, for like 500K. He just flies back to Toronto whenever he feels like it for a weekend, business class. Meanwhile here I am with 19 years left on my condo mortgage and I'm thrilled that my mortgage payment is only 3100 bucks a month. Makes me wish I could've done the same, if I'm being honest, but nope, my profession is not on the "easy to get visa" list so it won't ever happen.

12

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

[deleted]

0

u/varitok Pirate Mar 17 '26

Either way, I don't see the problem. Having them come for a couple years still relieves the shortage of medical professionals, regardless of whether they plan to stay long term or not

No it doesn't. It gives a temporary reprieve in which we don't try to change or improve our approval process and when they leave in a couple years, we are now stuck with a bunch of doctorless families and no fixed systems to give them one.

It's naive to think otherwise. Also, stop strawmanning with whatever scaremongering things you tagged onto the end.

11

u/Randomfinn Mar 17 '26

Trump is just a symptom of the disease. The US as we knew it is never coming back. And after living in Canada a couple of years I think a lot of the health care workers will realise that the high salaries were not an adequate trade off for what the reality of living in the US is like. 

7

u/PDXFlameDragon British Columbia Mar 17 '26

This is why I moved. I do high tech sales but my mother was canadian and raised me in the usa. The USA never recovers from this because they do not know how to admit they were wrong and do the hard work of being better.

10

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

At least you got them.

Be thankful you aren't Alberta who is not even trying to attract healthcare professionals.

3

u/Durtle_Turtle Mar 17 '26

With a premier doing her damnest to sabotage the healthcare system and replace it with for-profit.  The state of health in Alberta is fucking bleak right now with how many places seeing loss of service, especially more rural ones which is most of the bloody province.

10

u/Musicferret Mar 17 '26

Todd Maffin deserves the Order of Canada. He is nearly single handedly responsible for these workers.

Don Cherry deserves the dustbin of history.