In Haliburton, Ontario, there are hundreds of “wanted” posters hanging in an attempt to attract doctors to the area. That, and the recent media rhetoric about adjusting Canadian medical licensure standards, got me thinking about the health-care crisis and the physician shortage.

We are a proud First World nation, with top-notch universities crammed with gifted young people, world-class researchers, and cutting-edge technological advances. Yet, in 2009 we have a physician shortage?

The doctor shortage was not created by doctors; it is the result of catastrophic political calculations. Canadian society, by way of government policy, simply chose not to train enough physicians.

It is now almost two decades since Bob Rae’s NDP government, for example, convinced Ontarians they were over-doctored and proceeded to slash medical training spots. We have made only slight gains since that low point, with five different provincial governments having been at the helm. This snail’s pace of political action has doctors worried.

Today, thousands of Canadian university graduates have the personal qualities, intellect and basic skills to complete medical education and training. I have sat on admissions committees and watched many qualified candidates repeatedly rejected, however, for lack of funded spots.

The number of Canadians who get locked out of medical education training here—and go elsewhere, often permanently—is a tidal wave.

I think it is time for all levels of government to start thinking outside the box when it comes to medical education. It would require a sense of pride in Canada on their part, and a willingness to recognize that our greatest natural resource is our youth.

One promising solution would require a novel collaboration between government, universities and gifted students. Thousands of aspiring doctors could be placed in subsidized positions at recognized foreign medical schools to quickly ease the Canadian shortage.

The idea is ambitious yet possible. The private sector is capable of processing such an opportunity. For instance, hundreds of young Canadians study at U.S. medical schools at their own—private—expense. And most settle there, once they enter the full workforce, because returning to Canada is not a feasible option.

We should not lower Canadian standards for entry to practice. What we need is visionary leaders who can lead us out of this tragedy. The physician shortage started as a mere warning by the forward thinking and turned into a crisis.

A crisis left unaddressed transforms into a national shame and soon into a national outrage as we lose pride in who we are. The future of any country is defined by its ability to recover from political errors. Fixing mistakes requires courage. I ask our leaders to find it.

Peter Kujtan is a family doctor in Mississauga, Ontario.