Health Committee on Nov. 18th, 2025

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Just immigrant doctors.... Are they tracked—

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Excuse me. Order, please.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

She wasn't answering the question. It was about immigrant doctors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Mazier, if you ask a question, the witness is free to answer the question in whatever manner they deem appropriate.

I'm sorry, Ms. Park; go ahead.

[Soyoung Park]

They are not provided permanent residence as immigrant doctors. Because they're immigrant doctors and they have the experience as such, they have been given permanent residence.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you.

Minister Diab, your department issues work permits, correct?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Yes, we do.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Last year, your department approved work permits for over 1,000 foreign doctors who were funded by the Government of Saudi Arabia to train in Canadian hospitals. These visa trainees will never work a day in Canada after their training.

Why is your department approving Saudi-funded doctors for training in Canada when our own citizens can't find training spots?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

That's excellent. Actually, the Liberal member just asked me that question before you in the previous round, and as I explained, they are paid by the foreign country. Number one, not one penny is paid by Canada; number two, they do not take any spots away from any Canadians or permanent residents in medical school in terms of residency; and number three, they are there to actually doctor our own people. They are there to treat Canadians in hospitals and other settings.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I'll repeat the question. You were answering a totally different question in your assumption.

Last year, your department approved work permits for over 1,000 foreign-trained doctors who were funded by the Government of Saudi Arabia to train in Canadian hospitals. These visa trainees will never work a day in Canada. They will return to Saudi Arabia, so we're training doctors for dictators and sending them back so they can serve the dictators, not serve Canadian patients.

Why are you doing that?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

They are working in the hospitals and taking care of our sick people in the hospitals while they are here. They're not costing taxpayers a dime.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

But Canadians can't get spots. There are Canadians who are trying to get back into the system to get training spots so they can become doctors and become productive citizens to serve Canadians.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

These are outside the matching system. They are not taking spots away from anyone.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Minister Diab, your department posted advertisements—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Mazier. Your time is up.

I will now go to Mr. Eyolfson for five minutes, please.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister Michel, we talked about the number of Canadians without a family doctor. I started training in the late 1980s, when medical schools had already been cutting the number of medical school residency spots for several years. Was this due to decisions of the federal government, or were the decisions to cut the number of trainees admitted to medical schools back in the 1980s and early 1990s provincial decisions?

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

To go back to the 1980s and 1990s, in 2025, they're the same. It's the PTs' responsibility. It's not our responsibility. We are not cutting anything. We are not providing anything.

As you know, we, as the federal government, are transferring money to provinces and territories for the health sector, and they are choosing their own priorities. What I can see right now is that as the whole system across the country is under pressure, all provinces and territories are putting a lot of effort into filling the holes, but it's their jurisdiction. It's their choice.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Although the government has been giving tremendous amounts of money in the new budget for health infrastructure, there has been criticism that it doesn't go far enough and that you still need more health care transfers. Is this money not helping the provinces with their health care? If the province doesn't have to spend their own money to build a hospital, does this not make more money available for the provinces to spend on the much-needed health care professionals they need to staff those beds?

[Marjorie Michel, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

What I would tell you is that, as everybody knows, we are in a very difficult period. If this new federal government is putting $5 billion into health infrastructure in year one of its mandate, it's to answer an ask coming from provinces and territories.

That said, we need to help to build more health infrastructure. You will see it very rapidly, because, as I said, we have a number of projects already in the pipeline and people are ready to get more funding to make things happen in their region—so yes, it will help.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

Okay, thank you. That's exactly the answer I was looking for.

Minister Diab, you were asked if the federal immigration department is tracking these foreign-trained doctors who came to go into training programs. Does the federal government generally track employment and employment status, or is employment and certification of physicians under provincial jurisdiction?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I think that's exactly it. We're not in the business of tracking unless people are here on a closed work permit, and that's where ESDC comes in; it's not an IRCC function.

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Otherwise, if people are coming who are highly skilled, like doctors or physicians, they are coming as permanent residents. They're coming to work if they have a job and if they're licensed, and if they have to do a little bit of training before they get that, they work in other kinds of fields as well. They have the requisites and they've obtained what they needed to obtain to get permanent residency to come through a specific pathway, so they come as permanent residents.

[Doug Eyolfson, Liberal, Winnipeg West, MB]

What you're saying is it's not generally the federal government that tracks the employment status of any new immigrants. Is that correct?

[Lena Metlege Diab, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Again, if somebody is here on a closed work permit, then ESDC has a role to play as well.