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Jesse Kancir

New chief medical officer of health starts in January

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Nova Scotia will soon have a new Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Dr. Jesse Kancir is taking over the role starting in January. He is currently the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health, according to a news release.

“I am deeply honoured to continue to serve Nova Scotians as Chief Medical Officer of Health,” says Kancir in a statement.

“I look forward to working with providers, healthcare partners, community organizations and government to build on the strong foundation that has been established.”

He is taking over for Robert Strang, who leaves the position in January to retire after working 27 year’s in the province’s health care system. He previously announced his retirement in June.

Strang is most known for his role guiding Nova Scotia through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kancir adds that he is grateful to Dr. Strang for his leadership in recent years. He says Strang’s contributions to health care will have a lasting impact on the province.

Since Kancir moved to the province in 2021, he has also been a regional and associate regional medical officer of health. He began working alongside Dr. Strang as the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health in 2025.

In the Yukon, the province says he also held the position of acting deputy chief medical officer of health in the Yukon, as well as medical officer of health.

His first priority in the role, Kancir says, is getting Nova Scotians through flu season.

“A significant part of respiratory season is ensuring that we’ve got vaccine coverage that’s high. We’ve got lots of different products out there. And so for me, it’ll be making sure that we’re getting through the winter, giving information to Nova Scotians about how they can best protect themselves, which means encouraging that immunization uptake,” says Kancir.

His second priority is building relationships. There is a legacy of trust that Strang built over his about 20 years of experience.

“It is going to be a piece around building those partnerships, doing lots of introductions and getting to know Nova Scotians and partners and people who are looking to work together on issues.”

Sylvia Jones Jan 14 2026

Funding for training clinics in northern Ontario

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The provincial government is helping to set up training clinics for new doctors in Ontario.

The Ministry of Health is earmarking $8 million for 16 new or expanded existing clinics that are tied to the province’s medical schools.

Five of the clinics are connected to NOSM University, located in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and North Bay.

NOSM U is to get $500,000 for each clinic for the pre-planning work.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the clinics will help address the need for physicians in the new primary care teams.

“These clinics will train family medicine residents in a team-based model alongside other health care professionals, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and registered nurses, combining direct patient care with hands-on learning,” says Jones.

Dr. Jane Philpott, who was enlisted by the provincial government to assist the development of the Primary Care Action plan, says the clinics will help shape the future of healthcare in the province.

“They are training the next generation of family physicians, as well as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and many other health professionals who will work in these team-based environments,” says Philpott.

The first of the 16 teaching clinics is slated to be ready for use in 2027 or the early part of 2028.

Doctor in professional uniform examining patient at hospital or medical clinic. Health care , medical and doctor staff service concept.

NDP dismisses government’s enthusiasm over Primary Care Action Plan

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The provincial NDP is disputing claims by the Health Minister that the Primary Care Action Plan is working.

Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced on Monday that 245,000 people had been connected to a family doctor or nurse practitioner in the plan’s first year.

She says it puts the province on track to exceed its goal of 300,000 this year and have every Ontario resident gain access to a primary care provider by 2029.

NDP leader Marit Stiles doubts the province will achieve that goal.

Stiles says residents are still waiting long hours in emergency rooms, and hundreds of thousands of families have no access to a family doctor.

“The government can announce targets all it wants, but those targets don’t match the reality on the ground,” states Stiles in a statement.

“Half of Ontario’s municipalities still don’t have family doctors taking new patients. The real work is creating new primary care teams in communities that have none, and that work isn’t happening at the scale required.”

Stile adds that the government is acting as if the healthcare crisis is over.

Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Addictions with responsibility for Primary Care, Dr. Robin Lennox, feels the government is overstating progress while ignoring the scope of the problem.

“We all agree team-based care is the right model, but there is no physician recruitment or retention plan, and nurses in community care are still paid less than their hospital counterparts,” states Lennox.

“When half of family doctors are considering leaving practice in the next five years, these teams will not succeed unless the government acts now to make family medicine sustainable.

The Health Minister noted plans to tackle the waitlist with Healthcare Connect, which was set up to help people find a doctor.

Lennox says the waitlist represents only about 11% of people who need primary care, and focusing on that alone is not ambitious enough.

“Being attached on paper does not mean people can get timely appointments or access care close to home, and without that, outcomes will not improve.”

doctor holding red stethoscope

Feds hope to attract more international doctors with faster path to permanent residency

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New immigration rules could bring more internationally trained doctors into Canada.

On Monday, the feds announced a new and faster path for them to become permanent residents.

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab says the country needs this.

“We’ve seen the strain in our emergency rooms. We hear it from families waiting for a doctor, and we feel it from the front line staff who are stretched thin,” said Diab.

Doctors will be eligible if they have at least one year of work experience in Canada and at a related job. Those eligible related positions include general practitioners and family physicians, specialists in surgery and specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine, according to a news release from the federal government.

On top of that, anyone nominated through the program will have their work permit applications expedited in 14 days, so they can work while they wait for permanent residency.

The federal government will reserve 5,000 federal admission spaces for provinces and territories to nominate doctors. However, that does not take up any of the annual Provincial Nominee Program spots.

Invitations to apply will be sent out in early 2026.

black and gray stethoscope

Province says primary care waitlist cut in half

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There has been a significant breakthrough in the goal to cut down the wait for a primary care provider.

The announcement comes after the Ontario government announced a large reduction in the provincial Health Care Connect (HCC) waitlist this week.

As of January 1, 2025, the province said there were 235,000 people on the waitlist, with that number now reduced by half.

“Reducing the Health Care Connect waitlist from January 1 by over 50 per cent is a major milestone and demonstrates tangible progress in connecting more people to ongoing care,” said Dr. Jane Philpott, chair of the province’s Primary Care Action Team in a news release.

“This reflects the dedication of clinicians and teams across the province who are working tirelessly to attach patients and expand access to comprehensive, connected and convenient care.”

The announcement marks significant progress in the province’s $2.1-billion Primary Care Action Plan, which was a commitment to connect people waiting for a doctor to a primary care team by spring 2026.

The Ontario government says investment and rapid action to strengthen the health-care system have been crucial in the reduction in the HCC waitlist over the past 10 months.