Health, housing crises intersect

As premiers and the prime minister gather in Ottawa this week to talk about health-care funding, an example of a federally-imposed rule hampering provincial efforts to recruit health workers is playing out closer to home.

The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by NonCanadians Act came into effect Jan. 1. It has the laudable goal of freeing up housing for people who actually live in Canada instead of being used as an investment opportunity for foreign owners.

What does that have to do with health care? It seems the new law creates a barrier for health practitioners from other countries to choose to work in Canada.

Heather Grant, a realtor in Sydney, N.S., told SaltWire Network two psychiatrists ready to move to Cape Breton are being thwarted by the ban.

Grant says the two U.K. doctors can't buy houses because of the new act and there are no available rentals meeting their requirements. Furthermore, without the ability to buy, the psychiatrists can't reasonably relocate their families to Canada.

“How are we going to recruit health care and physicians if they can't purchase properties here? How are we going to recruit but also retain these doctors when they're living in apartments without their family members here?” Grant asked.

Doctors Nova Scotia president Dr. Leisha Hawker told SaltWire, “I understand there are several exemptions from the ban and, unfortunately, international graduates (who are) health-care providers that are trying to come to Nova Scotia weren't included in that exemption.”

Whyever not?

The federal act does include exemptions for temporary residents, if they hold a valid work permit or are authorized to work in Canada. They are required to have worked full-time in Canada for at least three years within the four years preceding the year in which the purchase was made.

That leaves home ownership at least three years out of grasp for the psychiatrists and for any other foreign health-care worker. Grant says they won't wait.

“It's a long time. It's ridiculous. They won't stay,” she said. “There is no chance that a family will stay here ever for three years (while) living in a rental, in an apartment somewhere with two to three kids in a bedroom. It's just never gonna happen.”

There are exemptions for rural areas, but that won't help doctors and their families who want to live near hospitals, schools and colleagues.

There is no question that both housing and health-care providers are in short supply in Atlantic Canada right now, so it is disappointing a measure brought in to alleviate one is exacerbating the other.

There are already exemptions to the ban. It has become obvious there needs to be one more for people who intend to work in Canada to take on health-care roles and other jobs the country desperately needs filled.

This law has unintended consequences that affect Atlantic Canada and the rest of the country. It is incumbent upon the federal government to fix it, and soon.