TORONTO, March 27 (UPI) -- Canadian politicians are questioning why the Canadian Medical Association is running an Internet ad for doctors for Australia despite a domestic shortage.
The ad is on the association's medical journal site and encourages Canadian doctors to relocate to Queensland, Australia, CTV News reported.
However, the CMA launched its own campaign Jan. 15 to lobby federal and provincial governments to recruit and retain more doctors in Canada, where it says 26,000 more doctors are needed to match international standards for doctors per capita, the report said.
Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman told CTV News he found the association's acceptance of the ad confusing.
"It's not a tactic that seems to make sense," Smitherman said. "To be aiding and abetting the international effort to lure our doctors does seem somewhat inconsistent."
An unidentified spokesperson for the association told CTV recruiting runs all over the world and the Australia ad is no different than a classified ad, and will remain on the site.
