[pcthrowaway]

> I've seen second-hand (I'm not a doctor) the lengths citizens have to go to, and how competitive it is, to get a residency spot at home; even more so apparently if they studied abroad (even if somewhere similar, e.g. US/UK/EU).

This sounds similar to the crisis facing intern-level and entry-level software workers, where everyone is too shortstaffed to hire on inexperienced people they'll need to train/supervise. Though perhaps with medicine there's less of a concern of the trainee jumping ship immediately once they're "up-to-standards" (or through residency).. I don't know much about the medical industry

[OJFord]

I think that is a concern too - especially in more rural areas (more people, even disproportionately, want to work in major hubs, in the GTA, etc.) since in the Canadian system you rank hospitals/programmes and they rank candidates, and then you 'match' somewhere (or don't). So possibly, likely even, you don't end up in the area you actually want to be (e.g. where you're from/family lives) so you apply to transfer mid-residency to, or simply for a job afterwards, where you actually want to be.