{"id":105276,"date":"2025-03-06T17:26:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/editionap.ca\/?p=105276"},"modified":"2026-02-17T21:52:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T20:52:45","slug":"rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government is taking steps to help doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.<\/p>\n<p>Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoctors and nurses have their hands full, helping treat and protect Canadians in emergency rooms and doctors\u2019 offices across the country,\u201d said MacKinnon. \u201cThey should not also have to worry about student loan debt. That is why we are making it easier for students to pursue a career in health without carrying the burden of student debt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program broadens the definition of \u201cunder-serve rural or remote community\u201d and means that health-care workers in more than 200 communities are now eligible to have some of their student loans forgiven. Becoming a nurse takes between one to four years of study and practical training for certification while a licensed doctor spends up to 14 years in study and practical training.<\/p>\n<p>Hawkesbury was one of the first communities with a local hospital whose doctors and nurses benefited from the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program when it was first introduced in 2013. The changes to the current program guidelines mean that over the next 10 years at least 900 doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities will benefit from forgiveness on some of their student loans.<\/p>\n<p>MacKinnon indicated that there are plans to further expand the student loan forgiveness program to include other health, social, and mental care professionals. The goal is to help encourage doctors, nurses, social workers, and mental health professionals to consider postings outside of the major urban centres.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike Hawkesbury, many more rural and remote communities will now become home to doctors and nurses,\u201d said MacKinnon, \u201cand other medical and social services professionals, who are ready to serve their communities and deliver the health care services that Canadians need today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government is taking steps to help doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities. Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":105277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sante"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tribune-Express\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joseph Coppolino\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Coppolino\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joseph Coppolino\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27\"},\"headline\":\"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":352,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sant\u00e9\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27\"},\"description\":\"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.editionap.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":2560,\"caption\":\"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/sante\\\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Accueil\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tribune-Express\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tribune-express.ca\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27\",\"name\":\"Joseph Coppolino\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joseph Coppolino\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express","description":"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express","og_description":"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.","og_url":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/","og_site_name":"Tribune-Express","article_published_time":"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":2560,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Joseph Coppolino","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joseph Coppolino","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/"},"author":{"name":"Joseph Coppolino","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27"},"headline":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help","datePublished":"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/"},"wordCount":352,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg","articleSection":["Sant\u00e9"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/","url":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/","name":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help - Tribune-Express","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-06T22:26:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-17T20:52:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27"},"description":"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.editionap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/ACTGC-rural_doctors_nurses_aid-scaled-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":2560,"caption":"Steven MacKinnon, minister for employment, workforce development and labour, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MP Francis Drouin drove out to Hawkesbury Thursday, March 6, for a press conference at the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to announce changes to the Canada Student Loan forgiveness program that will benefit doctors and nurses working in rural and remote communities."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/sante\/rural-doctors-and-nurses-get-federal-help\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Accueil","item":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rural doctors and nurses get federal help"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/","name":"Tribune-Express","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/25dbd073b952565ed09ca19dbbfccc27","name":"Joseph Coppolino","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/68b588951b507643baa44096457818fb7c15c73a18975a47ba0caf868bab32aa?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joseph Coppolino"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131482,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105276\/revisions\/131482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tribune-express.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}