Sad to say, it's true in my area, which is Vancouver; the same thing happens.
I'm not sure I can give you specific recommendations, but here is an area in which we can possibly learn from what happens in other countries. There are many possible approaches. Telemedicine is one; it's not without problems. The other approach in Holland is to have networks—I think it's referred to as a “cluster delivery model”—whereby you have networks set up in which people in the smaller centres are trained by people in the big centre. Patients only come into the big centre once, or maybe once every four years, and for the rest of the time the delivery of care is provided at smaller centres.
These are all models worth exploring, but it's a lot to expect that people who are already overstretched will try to learn about those models and take them on. I think this is a huge challenge.
I can't comment on the role of the federal government in this, as opposed to that of the provincial governments. We all recognize that it's a problem.