SRPC Strategic Priorities

The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC), the national voice of rural physicians, has been serving and advocating on behalf of 3100 rural health care professionals and communities for more than 30 years. With its vision of “Excellent health care close to home for all rural Canadians”, the SRPC is committed to advocating for the delivery of high-quality, comprehensive care in rural, remote and Indigenous communities.

Canada’s healthcare system is experiencing critical workforce shortages across all regulated health professions, with the most severe impacts in rural, remote, Northern, and Indigenous communities (Canadian Institute for Health Information [CIHI], 2023; Society of Rural Physicians of Canada [SRPC], 2017). This shortage threatens rural economic development, equitable access to care, and Indigenous reconciliation commitments. Canada faces a shortfall of 23,000 family physicians, with rural and remote regions experiencing the greatest unmet need (Caring for Canadians, 2025). Jurisdictions face increasing difficulty retaining their existing workforce while competing nationally and internationally to recruit rural physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Access to healthcare is both a foundational principle of the Canada Health Act (Government of Canada, 1985) and a key driver of rural economic development, labour force participation, and regional competitiveness (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada [ISED], 2019; OECD, 2020). The federal government is pursuing economic and military development, infrastructure investment, and nation-building initiatives in some of Canada’s most rural and remote regions. These efforts depend on stable, high-quality local health services to support residents, attract skilled workers, and sustain key industries e.g., transportation and mining (ISED, 2019; Federation of Canadian Municipalities [FCM], 2020). Failure to address rural healthcare access, therefore, presents a systemic risk to economic development, reconciliation objectives, and long-term federal productivity growth.

There is no federal rural health workforce strategy or plan, and rural, remote and Indigenous communities are experiencing the health and economic implications of an insufficient and unstable health workforce. The time to act is now and the SRPC is calling on the federal government to act on the following three recommendations while the opportunity exists to stabilize and sustain rural health systems.

Recommendation 1:

Provide expertise to support the development and implementation of a National Rural and Remote Health Workforce Strategy as a cornerstone of Canada’s long-term health system sustainability and nation- and defence-building strategy.

Recommendation 2:

Invest $26 million over three years to expand the National Advanced Skills and Training Program for Rural Practice, strengthening healthcare capacity and economic stability in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across Canada.

Recommended 3:

Support the establishment of multi-jurisdictional registration to stabilize rural healthcare delivery by enabling locum services and supporting physician retention.

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References:

Caring for Canadians. (2025). Canada’s Future Health Workforce: The Canadian Health Workforce Education, Training and Distribution Study. Health Canada.
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/health-human-resources/workforce-education-training-distribution-study.html 

Canadian Institute for Health Information. (2023). Health Workforce in Canada, 2022–2023. CIHI.
https://www.cihi.ca/en/the-state-of-the-health-workforce-in-canada-2023 

Federation of Canadian Municipalities. (2020). Growing Canada’s Rural Economy. FCM.
https://fcm.ca/en/focus-areas/rural-canada

Government of Canada. (1985). Canada Health Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-6.
https://lawsience and Economic Development Canada. (2019). Canada’s Rural Economic Development Strategy.

https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/rural/en/canadas-rural-economic-development-strategy

OECD. (2020). Rural Well-being: Geography of Opportunities. OECD Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1787/d25cef80-en

Society of Rural Physicians of Canada. (2017). Rural Road Map for Action. SRPC.
https://www.cfpc.ca/CFPC/media/Resources/Rural-Practice/Rural-Road-Map-Directions-ENG.pdf