As I walk into a small, rural British Columbia health centre, the air feels thin—much like the medical staffing. Dr. Maya Singh moves between exam rooms with hurried efficiency, balancing a patient load meant for three physicians. “I haven’t taken a real weekend in eight months,” she tells me, checking her watch before disappearing behind another door.
This scene isn’t unique. Across Canada, healthcare professionals are stretching themselves beyond sustainable limits. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has been sounding alarms about this growing crisis, and now they’re taking their concerns directly to Ottawa as the federal budget approaches.
“What we’re facing isn’t just a funding issue—it’s a systems collapse if we don’t act now,” explains Dr. Katharine Smart, past president of the CMA, during our video call. The organization represents over 75,000 physicians nationwide and has launched an urgent campaign calling on the federal government to maintain and strengthen healthcare funding commitments in the upcoming budget.
The strain shows in troubling statistics. Nearly 6.5 million Canadians lack access to a family doctor. Emergency room wait times have reached record highs, with some patients waiting 12+ hours before receiving care. In northern communities I’ve visited, patients routinely travel hundreds of kilometers for basic services.
Walking through a Vancouver ER last month, I witnessed the human cost firsthand. Elderly patients lined hallways on gurneys. Nurses moved between them with determined focus but visible exhaustion. One told me they were operating at 135% capacity—a situation that has become the new normal rather than an exception.
The CMA’s appeal centers on several critical needs. First, they’re urging Ottawa to move forward with the $196 billion in healthcare funding promised through the Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians agreement signed last year. Second, they want targeted investments in primary care access and healthcare workforce planning.
“Without strategic intervention now, we’re looking at even more healthcare deserts across the country,” Dr. Smart warns. She points to communities where the loss of a single physician can mean thousands suddenly without care.
Health policy analyst Dr. Andrew Boozary from the University of Toronto explained to me that the issue extends beyond raw funding numbers. “We need to think about how money flows through the system and creates the right incentives for care,” he said. “Right now, we’re funding a system designed for a different era.”
Indigenous communities face particularly severe challenges. Visiting the Tahltan Nation in northern BC last summer, I learned their health centre had been without a permanent doctor for nearly two years. Community health representatives were managing complex care needs with limited resources and sporadic support from fly-in physicians.
Elder Margaret Wilson shared her experience: “When my grandson needed mental health support, we waited seven months. By then, things had gotten much worse. Our people deserve better than this patchwork care.”
The CMA’s advocacy arrives as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland prepares a federal budget that must balance competing priorities amid economic pressures. Healthcare advocates worry that fiscal restraint might undermine promises made to address the system’s fundamental challenges.
Statistics Canada data shows healthcare spending currently accounts for approximately 11% of Canada’s GDP—a figure that has remained relatively stable despite increasing demands on the system. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has warned that without structural changes, provincial healthcare systems face unsustainable financial pressures in coming decades.
Dr. Singh, finishing her 12-hour shift at the rural clinic, offers a frontline perspective: “Politicians talk about efficiency and innovation, which we need. But you can’t innovate your way out of basic math—we simply don’t have enough healthcare workers or resources to meet current needs.”
Recent polling by Abacus Data indicates 78% of Canadians consider healthcare a top priority for federal spending, ranking it above housing, climate change, and economic development.
“This isn’t just about more money,” emphasizes Dr. Smart. “It’s about targeted investments in areas that will create sustainable change—primary care networks, digitization that actually reduces workload, and training pathways that address our most critical shortages.”
The CMA’s campaign includes direct outreach to parliamentarians, public awareness initiatives, and mobilizing healthcare professionals to share frontline experiences with decision-makers.
As I leave the rural health centre, Dr. Singh is reviewing charts for tomorrow’s patients. She looks up briefly: “Tell them we’re trying our best out here. But we can’t keep doing more with less forever. Something has to change.”
With the budget announcement approaching, that message from healthcare professionals across Canada grows more urgent by the day. The question remains whether Ottawa will heed their call for sustained investment in a system that touches every Canadian life.
