Saskatchewan looking to U.S. to cure doctor woes with recruitment program

Saskatchewan Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill speaks to members of the media after the release of the Saskatchewan budget in Regina, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

The Saskatchewan government is looking south of the border to cure its ailing doctor woes with a program to recruit American physicians to the Prairie province.

In a media statement Wednesday, it said the “Saskatchewan is Calling” campaign will launch this spring and focus on luring doctors in emergency medicine, anesthesiologists and family doctors from several states.

Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said Saskatchewan wants to offer doctors a secure, stable and supportive environment to work, “acknowledging the uncertain political climate in the United States.”

“We are committed to ensuring that physicians in Saskatchewan are well-compensated for their hard work, enjoy career fulfillment and have a positive work-life balance with a lower cost of living,” he said in a news release.

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The Canadian Medical Association has said American doctors are looking to Canada because they’re worried about political interference and recent cuts to health research funding.

The province said the campaign will highlight career opportunities and include information webinars to discuss the lower cost of living, work-life balance and competitive pay.

In a statement on Thursday, the Saskatchewan Medical Association said the province should set a goal of training and recruiting enough physicians to meet the needs of patients in the province.

“Equally important is to ensure we retain physicians, by ensuring they have the resources and support they need to do their all-important work,” the statement read.

Other provinces, including Nova Scotia and Manitoba, have been in talks with American doctors about practising north of the border.

Saskatchewan’s Opposition NDP health critic Vicki Mowat, in a statement, said while it is good to recruit trained doctors from the United States, there are dozens of internationally trained doctors in Saskatchewan who can’t get accredited to practise.

Mowat said Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party isn’t listening to the province’s health-care workers, noting long waiting room times and wait lists for surgery.

“This Sask. Party government broke our health-care system and will have to do so much more to fix it,” she said.

-This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 9, 2025.

- With files from Donovan Maess