B.C. opened the door for more American nurses last year, and they didn’t hesitate to step in.
Driving the news: Since introducing a streamlined licensing process last April, B.C. has approved 1,028 U.S.-trained nurses to work in the province. For comparison, that number was just 127 in 2024. The impetus for the rush isn’t entirely Donald Trump… but also, yeah, it’s mostly Trump.
B.C. has tried particularly hard to woo nursing expats, even launching a $5 million ad campaign last year to recruit nurses from California, Oregon, and Washington state.
Ontario and Alberta’s nursing associations and the Canadian Nurses Association told KFF Health News they’ve also fielded increased interest from American nurses.
Why it matters: Healthcare professionals are always in demand, with a recent report finding that nursing vacancies in Canada had tripled between 2018 and 2023 to over 41,000. While the influx of Yankee nurses doesn’t solve the underlying issues of the shortages — like devastating burnout rates and disputes over pay — it can help paper over the cracks.
Canada’s also in a position to lure doctors, university professors, and tech workers from the U.S. as all these professions have been affected by Trump policy changes.
Big picture: Data suggests that more Americans, not just nurses, are looking for a new home. According to new calculations from the Brookings Institution, the U.S. lost a net 150,000 people to migration last year. It’s hard to know for sure, but this could have been the first time more people moved away from the U.S. than to it since the Great Depression.—QH