Some Ontario mayors against communities' financial incentives to attract doctors
Several Ontario mayors have been calling on the province to ban financial incentives municipalities use to lure in doctors, saying the recruitment tactic is harming communities that can't pony up the cash – especially those in rural and northern regions.
But Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker is going even further, suggesting the federal government should outlaw the practice from 'coast to coast.'
'I think it should be banned across the country actually,' he said in a recent interview.
Shoemaker said his city needs 40 more doctors, including 18 to practise family medicine, and while it does offer a moving allowance of up $10,000, it is not in a position to compete with municipalities that are offering doctors tens of thousands of dollars to relocate.
'We think incentives are bad and we don't agree with them, and so we're not at this point supportive of getting into a competition on incentives because it is a competition we will lose,' he said.
Story continues below advertisement
Shoemaker said he asked Ontario's health minister to intervene and stop the practice during a meeting they had last August. But he said there seems to be no appetite for such a move in Ontario unless there is 'more widespread acceptance of banning of incentives' across the country.
'We don't want to become the place that is having all its doctors taken away from us,' he said.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said the government has made big investments to connect more Ontarians with doctors, but didn't directly respond to a question on whether it would consider banning municipalities' financial incentives.
Shoemaker isn't the only one raising concern over the use of incentive-based programs to address Ontario's doctor shortage.
Todd Kasenberg, the mayor of North Perth, is also encouraging the province to ban cash incentives, which he calls a 'mistake.'
'We've entered an arms race and typically there aren't any winners in an arms race,' he said in an interview.
Kasenberg said around 3,000 of 17,000 people in his town north of London, Ont., are currently without a family doctor. With expected retirements in the next few years, the doctor shortage will be severe if officials can't recruit fast enough.
'So it's a substantial issue and met with a lot of frustration in the community, a lot of anxiety,' he added.
Story continues below advertisement
He said the town is expected to welcome four medical residents from Western University this year. Council approved spending $50,000 to provide housing support for those residents, even though Kasenberg said he was personally 'uncomfortable' with the move.
Get weekly health news
Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. Sign up for weekly health newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
He hopes the recruits will stay in town beyond their residency period.
London Mayor Josh Morgan and Peterborough Mayor Jeff Leal have also publicly criticized municipalities' financial incentives for doctor recruitment.
Ontario's long-standing shortage of primary care providers affects millions of patients in every corner of the province, but advocates say rural communities are hit harder because they have fewer hospitals and walk-in clinics.
Experts have long warned that hefty financial incentives offered to doctors are widening the health-care access gap between poorer rural towns and richer urban centres.
Some say while the incentives might work, particularly in recruiting new graduates and medical residents who have education loans to repay, they don't serve to retain doctors in those communities.
'I think it is much more effective to be able to, from a retention standpoint, to support new grads by helping them to manage their schedule, add work slowly, avoid the risk of burnout,' said Dr. Sarah Newbery, a family physician in Marathon, Ont., a rural community 300 kilometres east of Thunder Bay.
Story continues below advertisement
'If they're too busy from the get-go, they will not be easy to retain.'
Newbery knows a thing or two about retention – she was one of six young physicians who moved to Marathon nearly three decades ago and ended the town's chronic doctor shortage.
At that time, Marathon was about to lose its only emergency department and the fate of the entire hospital was up in the air. The local physician recruitment committee even had burlap sacks ready to cover the hospital signs on the nearby highway.
'It was probably the most underserviced community certainly in the province, maybe in the country,' Newbery said.
She said the town gave the entire group $10,000 in bonuses — a little over $1,600 each — and housing support that included two years of free rent for some. But those incentives were not a deciding factor for Newbery and her partner to stay in Marathon for 29 years.
She said what kept that group of physicians in town was a collective commitment to provide better care for the community as well as an understanding of a healthy work and life balance. Marathon is home to six physicians now, and has only one doctor vacancy at a time when other rural communities are in a health-care crisis.
Instead of offering cash bonuses, Newbery suggested the money should be invested in making towns more welcoming and appealing to doctors in the long run.
Story continues below advertisement
Around 525,000 Ontarians who live in rural areas have no access to primary care, and that number is increasing four times faster compared to urban centres, according to data provided by the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association.
Christy Lowry, the association's chair, said improving access to health care, recruiting physicians and medical workers, and making sure local emergency rooms remain operational are 'top priority' for the association.
'All of those pieces are part of what we're focused on right now, and we can see how the lack of these services are negatively impacting our communities and the well-being of our communities,' she said.
Lowry, who is also the mayor of Mississippi Mills, a rural community east of Ottawa, said while her town has a modern hospital with 'tremendous service,' the shortage of primary care providers is a problem for residents, some of whom are travelling as far as Kingston to see their doctors.
The association estimates Ontario municipalities are spending nearly half a billion dollars on health care annually.
'Property tax dollars should be going to core municipal priorities. They were never designed to pay for health services,' Lowry said in a recent interview.
'The problem is there's a shortage. (We) don't have enough, so it becomes this competition between one community and the next.'
Story continues below advertisement
In northern communities, more than 350 doctors — including more than 200 family physicians — are needed to fill current vacancies, and that number is much higher if retirements expected over the next five years are factored in, according to the Ontario Medical Association.
The association's former president, Dr. Dominik Nowak, said that's 'unacceptable.'
The shortage had led to fierce competition for physicians.
'There are winners and losers when we have a situation like this and oftentimes the communities that can't afford to recruit and retain are northern and rural communities,' he said last month before his tenure ended.
Nowak said while municipalities should help create a welcoming environment for doctors and their families, ultimately it is the province's job to ensure communities have proper access to health care.
'It's a symptom of a larger problem,' Nowak said of incentive-based programs. 'The larger problem is that family practice is no longer seen as a viable career choice for new graduates.'
The Ministry of Health said the province has added 15,000 doctors and increased the number of family physicians by 10 per cent since 2018.
Ministry spokesperson Ema Popovic said the government is adding close to 1,500 family doctors in rural and northern areas as part of two different programs, which include bringing in foreign-trained doctors and providing education funds for students interested in working in those communities.
Story continues below advertisement
She said Ontario aims to connect everyone in the province to a primary care provider by 2029 as part of a $1.8-billion investment.
The province recently said there will be 'significant investments' in the Rural and Northern Physician Group Agreement primary care model. There will also be a new program called the Rural Emergency Medicine Coverage Investment Fund, which is meant to ensure appropriate doctor staffing levels year-round, and it replaces a now-expired temporary program that incentivized doctors to fill those shifts in rural and northern ERs.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Why one U.S. doctor is moving to Vancouver Island
Dr. Muthana Yacoub has been working as a family physician in Woodland Park, Colo., for six years now. But by November, he will be practising medicine in Colwood, B.C. 'We finally visited this past weekend and we absolutely fell in love with it,' Yacoub said. He'll work at a unique, city-owned clinic, which has recruited four doctors from the U.S., the U.K. and other parts of Canada. Yacoub, who spent part of his childhood living in Toronto, already had Canadian citizenship. He heard about the new Vancouver Island clinic while attending a medical conference in Vancouver last November, and was ready for change. 'You do see this pressure from insurance companies where you feel like you're just kind of catering to their whims and those whims change every six months,' he explained. 'It can be extremely frustrating, because you know what you want to do for the patient, what the right thing to do for the patient is, but you have no efficacy in actually getting that done.' The Ministry of Health is hoping more U.S. doctors feel the same as Yacoub. The province recently began a $5-million recruitment campaign running ads in Washington State, Oregon and parts of California. This week, a branded truck was giving out free coffee to health-care workers in Seattle. 'Doctors of BC supports all efforts to address the province's health workforce challenges,' said Dr. Charlene Lui, the organization's president. 'It's so important to improve timely and quality access to care for our patients.' Lui said Doctors of BC is willing to work with the Ministry of Health and other key partners to 'explore solutions for this very complex issue, including integrating foreign-trained physicians not only from the U.S., but around the globe.' She said they are exploring questions around licensing with stakeholders. The ministry said more than 1,600 health-care providers have expressed an interest in moving to our province. However, despite requests from CTV News, the ministry did not provide any numbers on how many doctors and nurses had actually committed to making the move. In a statement, the ministry said: 'Steps are being taken to get those interested to B.C., but this is a process that takes time.''We are also working with our federal partners on the immigration front,' the statement added. Yacoub said he thinks the biggest barrier for workers coming from the U.S. is 'the concept of moving to a different country and the whole licensing situation.' He also pointed out that America is facing its own family doctor shortage, particularly in rural areas. He said despite flaws in B.C.'s health-care system, he believes it's a much better system than the one he is currently working in. 'Even the poorest among us can get care if they need it, whereas here (in the U.S.), it's a coin toss. They may not get their care at all,' he said, adding that someone should not face bankruptcy to get medical treatment. Yacoub said Colwood has been very welcoming and he can't wait to make B.C. home. 'From the bottom of my heart, thank you,' he said.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Quebec urges caution regarding tick, mosquito bites
From Jan. 1 to Oct. 26, 2024, 681 cases of Lyme disease were reported in Quebec. As summer begins, Quebec's Ministry of Health and Social Services is urging caution regarding tick and mosquito bites, which can transmit several diseases and viruses. Tick and mosquito populations are on the rise in several regions due to climate change, and the milder climate allows them to survive and thrive more easily. Quebec is reminding residents that ticks and mosquitoes can transmit Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and California Serogroup viruses, among others. The ministry notes that there are simple precautions people can take to protect themselves, such as using a DEET or icaridin-based mosquito repellent and wearing light-coloured, lightweight clothing. To protect yourself more specifically from ticks, prioritize walking on trails and avoid tall grass. If a tick attaches itself to your skin, remove it carefully, ideally within 24 hours. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in Quebec. As is the case elsewhere in the country, the numbers have increased significantly in recent years. In 2023, 2022, and 2021, there were 652, 586, and 709 cases, respectively. In comparison, there were 125 cases in 2014, 160 in 2015, and 177 in 2016. Lyme disease is transmitted by a tick bite carrying bacteria. It can also affect animals. In humans, the most common symptom of the disease is a red rash on the skin. Many people experience fatigue, fever, and body aches, but if the disease is not detected and treated quickly, the bacteria can spread through the bloodstream and cause other, more dire symptoms. If you suspect you may have been infected, Quebec recommends calling Info-Santé at 811. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on June 20, 2025.
Cision Canada
2 days ago
- Cision Canada
Over $7.7M in Ontario-Based Platforms to Advance Open Science and Brain Health Innovation Français
Two cutting-edge platforms at CAMH and Western University aim to accelerate AI-driven brain research and global data sharing TORONTO, June 20, 2025 /CNW/ - Brain Canada is pleased to announce an investment of more than $7.7 million to support two innovative research platforms based in Ontario that will drive forward brain health discovery, data sharing, and open science collaboration. Funded through the Canada Brain Research Fund (CBRF), a visionary partnership between Brain Canada and the Government of Canada, through Health Canada, these two projects will provide Canadian and international researchers with the tools and infrastructure they need to transform how brain disorders are studied, understood, and treated. "Through the Canada Brain Research Fund, the Government of Canada is pleased to support these two essential and innovative research initiatives, which will help drive new discoveries and improve care for people affected by neurological conditions," said the Honourable Marjorie Michel, Minister of Health. The newly supported platforms are the Brain Health Data Challenge (BHDC) platform, led by Dr. Tristan Glatard at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and the Mesoscopic Integrated Neuroimaging Data (MIND) Platform, led by Dr. Ali Khan at Western University. "Canada is at the forefront of a global shift toward open science in brain research," said Dr. Viviane Poupon, President and CEO of Brain Canada. "These two platforms exemplify how we can responsibly share data, scale innovation, and build collaborative networks to unlock the full potential of neuroscience and AI." ABOUT THE PROJECTS Building Reproducible AI Frameworks for Brain Health with the Brain Health Data Challenge Platform Tristan Glatard, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) (Grant total: $4.9M) With vast amounts of brain health data now available, artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how we understand, diagnose, and treat neurological conditions. However, data privacy regulations often prevent this information from being used in open AI challenges—a key method that has already accelerated innovation in fields like cancer and medical imaging. The BHDC platform will create a secure, privacy-compliant framework to enable AI competitions using Canadian brain health data. By unlocking these datasets for responsible and collaborative use, the platform will foster the development of reproducible and equitable AI models, helping clinicians tailor treatments and improve care for people living with brain disorders. "With this transformative investment from Brain Canada, CAMH is proud to lead the development of a secure and robust framework for ethical AI in mental health," said Dr. Aristotle Voineskos, SVP of Research and Science, CAMH. "The Brain Health Data Challenge will empower researchers globally to address complex brain health questions using advanced data science—while upholding the highest standards of privacy and equity. By enabling predictive, reproducible AI for serious mental illness, we move closer to better care, earlier interventions and improved quality of life." The Mesoscopic Integrated Neuroimaging Data (MIND) Platform Ali Khan, Western University (Grant total: $2.9 million) The MIND Platform combines ultra-powerful MRI and lightsheet microscopy, which enables researchers to see the brain's structure and activity in unprecedented detail. By linking images of living brains with detailed microscopy of brain tissue, scientists can gain deeper insights into how diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's progress, affect brain circuits, and can be treated. The MIND Platform builds on two internationally recognized imaging facilities at Western University to create a centralized, standardized repository for high-resolution brain tissue data. Through a user-friendly online portal, researchers around the world will be able to send brain tissue for imaging and access powerful tools to analyze the data—without requiring advanced infrastructure at every site. By adopting global data standards and a robust open science framework, the MIND Platform will fuel national and international collaboration, enabling deeper understanding of brain structure, function, and disease. "Western is internationally recognized for its strengths in neuroimaging, with a long history of innovation and collaboration," said Robert Bartha, Vice Dean of Research and Innovation at Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. "The MIND Platform builds on that foundation, pairing powerful imaging technologies with open science to push the boundaries of how we explore and understand the brain." Together, these platforms mark a major step forward in Canada's leadership in brain research, making it easier for scientists to share knowledge, build on each other's work, and transform brain health through open, data-driven innovation. About Brain Canada Brain Canada is a national charitable organization that enables and supports excellent, innovative, and collaborative brain research in Canada. Through the Canada Brain Research Fund, a public-private partnership with the Government of Canada through Health Canada, Brain Canada funds initiatives that advance knowledge, drive innovation, and accelerate the development of diagnostics, treatments, and cures. About the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit or follow @CAMHnews on Bluesky and LinkedIn. About Western University Western University delivers an academic experience second to none. Since 1878, The Western Experience has combined academic excellence with life-long opportunities for intellectual, social and cultural growth in order to better serve our communities. Our research excellence expands knowledge and drives discovery with real-world application. Western attracts individuals with a broad worldview, seeking to study, influence and lead in the international community. CAMH [email protected] Western University Crystal Mackay Director, Media Relations m. 519-933-5944 e. [email protected] Brain Canada Kate Shingler, Senior Director, Strategic Communications [email protected] 514-550-8308 SOURCE Brain Canada
