Ottawa’s famous cardiac surgeon, Marc Ruel, was planning a transfer to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco, “excited to announce” that he would lead a heart division in his department of surgery.
But Donald Trump’s threats to Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada.
“Canada is under coercion at this time,” he told CBC. “I felt that my role and duty at this time was to serve my country from the inside.”
Ruel is not the only medical professional now to work in the United States.
That means that Canada’s medical care system could benefit from political agitation unleashed by the president of the United States, since American doctors seek to move north and Canadians renounce opportunities to the south of the border.
‘I don’t want to do politics’
For more than a decade, Ruel served as head of cardiac surgery at the Heart Institute of the University of Ottawa, developing world leading techniques in less invasive derivation surgery.
Ruel says he considers his skills as a Canada product, skills that he was ready to share worldwide when he accepted the position at UCSF last year.
“In the west of the United States, nobody does this multiple multiple surgery more advanced and minimally invasive,” he said.
Ruel has not spoken publicly about his decision to remain in Canada, partly to avoid getting into politics.
“I do not want to do politics, I am a surgeon, I am not a politician and respect the choice of each nation to choose their own destiny,” he said.
But the imposition of Trump tariffs and threats to annex the country that historically has been its closest ally has made geopolitics an inevitable problem.
“Unfortunately, I had to change my decision,” Ruel said. “I say unfortunately because there were patients there in California, I can say, who we are eager to undergo this type of surgery.”
Given the broader context, Ruel says that staying was the best decision.
“I am very happy to be here and serve, as I can, my Canadian companions,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the United States, many doctors are considering whether they can continue doing their job under a second Trump administration.
CBC spoke with two American doctors looking to move to Canada and a third who recently moved to BC
The three declined to speak in the registry, citing the fear of compensation for critically speaking of the Trump administration. But they shared concerns about the Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advancing an anti-science and emptiness agenda.
Last week, the American media reported that Kennedy had hired David Geier, a vaccine skeptic, to study links between immunizations and autism.
Geier, who was censored in 2012 for practicing medicine without a license in Maryland, has previously published discredited statements about vaccines that increase the risk of autism, which critics say that the result of any subsequent investigation directed by him is anticipated.
On Thursday, Kennedy also announced plans to reduce 10,000 jobs as part of a restructuring of federal public health agencies.
An opening of ‘gate’
Concerns about the political climate in the United States have opened a “gate” of consultations about moving to Canada, according to recruiter Michelle Flynn.
“The amount of interest has more than duplicated in recent months,” he told CBC.
The CEO of Canam Physician Recruiting Inc., Flynn recruits trained doctors in the United States to work in Canada and places Canadian specialists in roles in the United States.
Lately, however, he has fought for any Canadian to be interested in moving to the south.
“I started a position for a [obstetrician-gynecologist] In the United States before President Trump was elected, “he said.” Since then we have had to discard that idea completely. No one goes to the United States “
To deal with the influx of consultations with American doctors who want to come to Canada, Flynn said he is now conducting interviews five days a week, compared to three days a week before.
“We are obtaining more than 60 doctors who come and register on our website for a month,” he said.
Canada is now in a better position to welcome trained doctors in the United States than in the past, since most provinces have eliminated barriers for licenses in recent years.
Ontario in particular is well located to receive American doctors, according to the provincial Ministry of Health.
“There is no doubt that the United States faces economic uncertainty at the hands of President Trump’s tariffs,” said the Ministry of Health in a statement sent by email.
“We have taken measures to break the barriers for health workers with international education … work with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy to allow trained and certified doctors in the United States to practice in the immediate Ontario.”
After presenting this new license route, the CPSO registered 351 American doctors between 2023 and the end of 2024, a spokesman said.
So far this year, CPSO has received registration requests from 240 doctors who are educated in the US. Most of them are currently practicing in the United States, said the spokesman.
Given the interruption caused by Trump, Ruel believes that Canada is “the best” country to face an uncertain future.
“I am a great believer in the Canadian medical care system,” he said. “He needs some corrections, but I believe that the basic principles that we have of equity, transferability and access to all are really important.”
