B.C.鈥檚 advertising blitz on the U.S. West Coast to convince health-care workers to move north has begun.
Health Minister Josie Osborne unveiled details of the campaign in an announcement in Colwood on Friday, June 6.
The $5-million advertising campaign began on June 2 across Washington state, Oregon and parts of California. Ads are being placed on digital screens at 14,000 locations, each within a 16-kilometre radius of a health-care facility.
Ads will also appear in six medical trade publications, on social media and during podcasts. The goal is to reach 80 per cent of targeted health-care workers in a six-week campaign.
Osborne said B.C. is targeting U.S. workers in particular because of the ease with which qualifications can be transferred, and because of the uncertainty within the American health-care industry due to federal funding cuts and attacks on scientific research.
She hopes the advantages of working in a different environment in Canada can overcome any pay inequality that may exist between B.C. and the U.S.
"Doctors are not just motivated by dollars and cents, and that's one of the reasons why we're taking advantage of the uncertainty and chaos that exists south of the border right now,鈥� Osborne said.
Some barriers remain
While it tries to lure workers north, the province is simultaneously working to make it easier for them to transfer their qualifications.
Much of that work happens through the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the College of Nurses and Midwives. The provincial government can clear some of the hurdles, but not all.
The College of Nurses and Midwives has streamlined the process for nurses to transfer qualifications without a third-party assessment and is collaborating with counterparts in the U.S. to access databases to verify employment and educational information.
B.C. is still working with the College of Physicians and Surgeons on a similar process.
Osborne said the college recently passed bylaw changes that will allow U.S.-trained doctors to bypass some exams, but those changes have not yet been implemented.
The province is also not in control of the immigration process that these workers must go through. Osborne called it a 鈥渃hallenge鈥� that the federal government has decreased the number of people that B.C. can accept through the provincial nominee program.
This number was cut from 8,000 in 2024 to 4,000 in 2025.
鈥淲e'll do everything we can to ensure that we maximize that for physicians and nurses,鈥� she said, adding that she plans to continue to pressure the federal government to change this policy.
Osborne couldn鈥檛 point to any numerical measure for determining the success of this program, saying only that the government is trying to recruit as many health-care workers as possible. Tracking success is proving difficult.
鈥淲e've never undertaken a recruitment campaign like this before, so we are building up a system that will enable us to track the inquiries as they move through the system,鈥� she said.
The Colwood model
Colwood was an interesting choice for Osborne鈥檚 announcement because it has recently gotten into the health-care business itself.
To address doctor shortages, Colwood created a municipal-owned health clinic that hired one doctor from within Canada and is working to recruit more from outside Canada.
Dr. Cassandra Stiller-Moldovan, who relocated from London, Ont., to work at the clinic, was on hand for the announcement.
That pilot project began late last year, and Osborne said she is fielding calls from other municipalities that want to do something similar.
鈥淭his is something that we're very keen to continue to work with other local governments on,鈥� she said.
Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi also joined Osborne at the announcement. He explained why he is so invested in solving health-care worker shortages by telling a personal story about not having access to primary care until a health emergency nearly killed him.
鈥淚 hadn't had a family doctor in 20 years, and I had to have heart failure first before I actually got one,鈥� he said.
His wife was lucky enough to get a family doctor two years ago, before her own major health emergency. The family doctor was able to pick up her breast cancer diagnosis early enough for effective treatment.
He told these stories as personal examples of why B.C. needs more doctors and a stronger public system.
鈥淲ithout doctors in British Columbia, in our community, we're just not whole,鈥� he said.
