Sample Petition for Voters in Swing Ridings for 2019 Election

SAMPLE PETITION

To Member of Parliament candidates of [name of riding]

I will be voting in the next election.

I believe all Canadians deserve to have access to a family doctor and to see specialists in a reasonable time.  Long waiting lists are hurting Canadians.

I support the federal government funding more residency training for doctors, and that the funding be transferred to provinces with a requirement that it be used to create more residency positions for all qualified Canadians doctors educated either in Canada or abroad.

The federal government must also reinstate the requirement for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) for all foreign visa applications for doctors pursuing residency training.  The LMIA requires employers to prove that there is no Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is able and willing to take the residency training job and that Canadian interests will not be negatively affected before a visa can be issued to a foreigner. Currently foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia, have over 1,000 of their citizens training in Canadian hospitals taking jobs that could be filled by Canadians. After training, these individuals return to their home country, and do not help alleviate the doctor shortage in Canada.  The current policy favours profit and foreign interests over what is best for Canadians.  Scarce medical training resources must be used to train Canadian doctors who will serve the Canadian public.