What Canada’s doctors want from Ottawa now

Canada is at a pivotal moment. Global tensions and economic uncertainty mean there’s an urgent need to boost innovation and productivity. At the same time, the people expected to drive that progress are struggling with health challenges — and too often, the systems they rely on are falling short. 

Doctors across the country are clear about what it will take to build a stronger, more efficient and more equitable health care system to handle these pressures. On Apr. 21, the CMA, physician advocates and health partners held more than 40 meetings with parliamentarians on Parliament Hill to advance solutions for a healthier Canada. Here’s what they’re calling for:

Use digital health tools and AI to connect patients to the care they need

Canada’s outdated, disconnected health information systems result in testing delays, gaps in care and unnecessary paperwork, one of the leading drivers of physician burnout. Only 29% of doctors can share patient information with another health care facility, while just 47% of patients can access their own health records. 

Meanwhile, AI is already reshaping health care: 59% of physicians using AI say it has reduced paperwork. But AI tools come with risk and require thoughtful governance. 

Recommendations: Pass Bill S-5, the Connected Care for Canadians Act, to make it easier to access and share digital information. Regulate AI systems and build a $500M health AI innovation fund to speed up the testing, adoption and infrastructure for AI tools in health care. 

Ensure every person has access to a health care team

Primary care is the front door to the health system, providing ongoing, comprehensive care. Yet, 5.9 million people in Canada don’t have a regular family doctor, nurse practitioner or primary health care team.

Canada faces a shortage of nearly 23,000 family doctors, and clinicians are managing more patients, often with more complex needs. While provincial and territorial governments are expanding training and team-based models, there’s a long way to go to close the gap.

Recommendation: The federal government should enact a Primary Care Act (similar to Ontario’s Primary Care Act) setting out a national vision for primary care and fostering collaboration with provincial and territorial governments. 

Fight back against the spread of false health information

In 2025, 89% of people went online for health information. But false health information is widespread, and doctors see the consequences daily: patients delay or avoid treatment, try untested remedies and arrive in the ER with more complex, preventable conditions. These same online spaces are also where children face increasing exposure to harm. 

Recommendations: Prioritize online safety with the re-introduction of an Online Harms Act (similar to Bill C‑63) and ensure any AI legislation includes safety provisions to protect people from harm (e.g., AI chatbots). Mandate and fund the federal health portfolio to fight false health information and elevate trusted health sources.

Advance Indigenous rights and solutions to health care inequities

Access to clean, safe drinking water is a fundamental human right, yet Indigenous Peoples in Canada are 90 times more likely to live in a home without piped water. Persistent health inequities stem from colonial systems, exclusion and the underrepresentation of Indigenous leadership in health and policy decisions. Addressing these disparities requires a nation-to-nation approach prioritizing self-determination and Indigenous-led care. 

Recommendations: Re‑introduce a First Nations Clean Water Act (similar to Bill C-61). Classify Indigenous-led healing and support programs as essential services under Indigenous Services Canada and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada funding frameworks, ensuring these essential services receive prioritized, protected and uninterrupted funding.

Bring internationally educated and trained physicians into the system, and improve workforce conditions

Health workers have faced heavy workloads for years due to staffing shortages and growing administrative demands, with nearly half of physicians reporting high levels of burnout. Recruiting internationally trained physicians can help address workforce gaps, but many practitioners are held back by fragmented licensing and restrictive immigration rules. 

Retention matters just as much, and one major driver of physician burnout is unnecessary administration. Government forms, especially the Disability Tax Credit, are overly complex and take crucial time away from doctors.

Recommendations: Fix the physician shortage by updating immigration rules, choosing applicants based on health system needs, expanding practice ready assessment capacity and making it easier for doctors to move and work across Canada. Streamline and reform the Disability Tax Credit application process, as committed to in Budget 2025.