Evidence of meeting #13 for Health in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigration.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Winnipeg West, MB
Thank you.
Dr. Nickerson, a point was brought up about the federal health care infrastructure and how provinces are under a lot of financial constraints on infrastructure and personnel.
When the federal government is funding health infrastructure, does that not effectively make more money available for a provincial government like Manitoba's to spend on things like improving personnel levels, working conditions and these sorts of things?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
Yes, I would hope so. Hopefully, we'd realize that at the front lines of the hospital structure and for the support staff within that infrastructure.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
You had six seconds left. Very good. Thank you very much.
I will now go to Ms. Larouche.
Ms. Larouche, you have two and a half minutes.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I too will address Mr. Burry.
In your opening remarks, you spoke about the effects of the new insurance program. In Quebec, we already have a form of dental insurance; it does not cover everything, but it exists. The Quebec government requested a transfer of funds in order to improve its dental program. Quebec knows what the needs are on the ground. Moreover, this is within its jurisdiction. It knows what an improvement to the dental program would entail.
If I understand correctly, this program has generated more requests, which means that we need to find more employees here and abroad. We need staff.
Would it have been preferable to respond to Quebec’s request rather than impose a new program without first assessing labour needs? Quebec already has a program, and its knowledge of the needs could have helped improve the program. That is one of the problems that has been created.
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Dental Association
Thank you for your question.
From a Canadian Dental Association perspective, we don't really look at which jurisdiction is involved in trying to provide oral health care. What we need for those is to have—
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
Indeed, Madam Chair, I did not have access to interpretation.
Now that I have access to interpretation, could you give the witness a few more seconds so that he can answer my question?
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Dental Association
Madam Chair, in terms of the delivery or the level of government that delivers oral health care services, the Canadian Dental Association does not have a specific position related to that.
What we want to see are the most effective programs possible to deliver oral health care to Canadians, whether that's at the federal level or the provincial level at this time.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
We have, as it happens, noted problems with the program’s effectiveness. In Quebec, people have told us that not all applications were accepted. There are also doctors who did not want to join the program because it lacked clarity or because they did not have enough information.
Have you noticed the same thing?
Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Dental Association
Yes, in terms of the challenges with this particular program, we have certainly seen them, but at the same time we've been working directly with Health Canada to look at solutions.
Again, our interest is very much that Canadians get the oral health care they need.
Liberal
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Through the chair, I'd like to speak with Dr. Nickerson from Manitoba, please.
Could you clarify this? You said it costs $430,000 to train a medical student. In Alberta, they're claiming it's over a million dollars. Are you including the stipends that they would receive?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
No, I was quoting based on a Senate document from 2002, adjusted for inflation, as a Canadian average.
November 20th, 2025 / 1:05 p.m.
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Could you tell me how many CaRMS matches there are in Winnipeg? Give me a general breakdown. One is family medicine and then, of course, the rest are specialists.
Would you have 90 spots?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
We have 190 spots that we offer. In terms of family medicine, we have 82 spots.
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Is it possible that you're not aware that the Saudi government makes donations to the University of Manitoba for taking on these Saudi students?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
We don't have donations, as far as I'm aware.
What we have for visa trainees is a set amount that they pay the institution to train those individuals.
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Would you be aware if the Saudi government were giving donations to the university, or would that be something you would not be aware of?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
I would not be aware of that.
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Okay. I appreciate that.
Is there anything that requires your graduates from your CaRMS match to stay in the province?
Past Board Chair and Dean, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada
For the Canadian medical graduates, no.
We have a return of service for international medical grads to stay in Manitoba for a period of time.
Conservative
Burton Bailey Conservative Red Deer, AB
Thank you.
Through the chair, Dr. McAdoo, thank you for the work you're doing. I have not been to your centre yet, but I have spoken to many people who have. I would like to ask you what sorts of challenges you faced when you were starting up your program. Do you think this is something that could be incorporated into other provinces?
Chief Executive Officer, Physician Assessment Centre of Excellence
Thank you for that.
There were a lot of time pressures, for sure. It was announced in October, and we were operating in January. We started our first assessments in February, so time was definitely a pressure. Finding enough clinic space in that short period of time was a challenge as well. We were constrained by the number of assessments we could do based on the number of clinical exam rooms we had available to us. That's why we're opening another space in December. Obviously, we had to recruit all of our team, our candidates and our assessors. That was part of it. We were building the program in a very quick period of time.
We now have a very strong foundation and have proven that it is scalable. We've scaled already and are still in our rapid growth phase. We started at a very small number of candidates and are increasing them on a regular basis. We'll double our capacity in December for the office-based primary care program.
As for the challenges ahead, we are going to be looking at expanding the orientation program, potentially, that's run through the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia to expand its scope and hopefully breadth. We will also be looking at building purpose-built space so that we have more space to do these assessments and continue to develop the program. Of course, we're going to get into program evaluation as well. We'll be collecting a great deal of data, which will help with informing how these types of programs move forward.
To answer the final question, which I believe is whether it could be done in other areas, it is certainly scalable locally. It could be done on a regional basis. As we scale up, we will have capacity to do that type of work. It could be done in other provinces as well, if there is a will to do so.