While different levels of government promise to speed up the accreditation of internationally trained professionals to prop up the healthcare system, it still takes months if not years for new immigrants to be able to practise in Canada.

Every day, an estimated 400,000 people cross the Canada-U.S. border, the largest land border in the world. And there are about 800,000 Canadian citizens living in the United States. All this means the infectious disease threat could be even more pressing for Canadians.

We've heard about the threat that United States tariffs pose to Canadian economic security. But a different kind of insecurity now looms with new leadership from our southern neighbors: insecurity in global health.

Canada is currently experiencing an increase in measles with recent cases reported in Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s chief public health officer said Wednesday in a statement.

More than half of Americans believe the U.S. benefits from its membership in the WHO. As of April 2024, 25% of U.S. adults say the country benefits a great deal from its membership, while about one-third say it benefits a fair amount. Conversely, 38% say the U.S. does not benefit much or at all from WHO membership.

Dr. John Tuinema said the global health agency losing the large amount of funding the U.S. provides will mean low-income countries will have less capacity to respond to communicable disease, and middle- to high-income nations might have diminished communication structures, he said.

Canada, with its reflexive opposition to anything Trump does — often for good reasons — should take a moment to consider that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. If Canada were to withdraw its hefty contribution to the WHO, $204 million in 2022-23, it might well be closing time for this broken and mismanaged institution.

The United States will leave the World Health Organization, President Donald Trump said on Monday, saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

Pai says if there is a major disease outbreak and the U.S. isn't looped into the worldwide response, the virus would spread -- likely into Canada Author of the article: You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.

Canada’s chief public health officer, who became a household name during the pandemic, is set to finish her term in June

"The bottom line is that withdrawing from the WHO makes Americans and the world less safe," says Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of the nonprofit health organization Resolve to Save Lives and former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The United States surgeon general recently called for a warning of cancer risk on alcohol labels. And I agree. But the discourse that has come out in the media, by health professionals and health influencers,