Charlottetown, PE, July 23, 2026 /CNW/ -- The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is pleased First Ministers agreed today to break down the barriers that prevent health care clinicians and other professionals from working across provincial and territorial borders.

The CMA has been asking governments to allow clinicians to travel across Canada's internal borders and begin practising immediately. It will help alleviate the pressure on the medical workforce serving patients in rural and remote communities by making physicians more mobile and enable faster health care delivery in crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or extreme forest fires and other climate-related events.

We are encouraged that First Ministers will direct their Ministers of Health and Finance to discuss long-term funding and productivity in the health sector. We support the premiers' call for increased federal investment in health, with safeguards in place to uphold the Canada Health Act.

These are positive steps forward, and the CMA looks forward to working with governments to make them happen and improve health care for everyone in Canada.

Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi
CMA President

About the CMA
The Canadian Medical Association leads a national movement with physicians who believe in a better future of health. Our ambition is a sustainable, accessible health system where patients are partners, a culture of medicine that elevates equity, diversity and wellbeing, and supportive communities where everyone has the chance to be healthy. We drive change through advocacy, giving and knowledge sharing – guided by values of collaboration and inclusion.

SOURCE Canadian Medical Association