Over the past decade, Canada's population has grown from 5,301,000 in 1900 to over 34,030,589 in 2011, driven primarily by immigration (Central Intelligence Agency, 2011). One in four Canadians is expected to be aged 65 or older by 2056, up from 13% today. This will put a strain on the country's healthcare system (Macleans, 2008 p.2). The future of Canada's healthcare system is in grave danger due to a growing and aging population. This is triggering a shortage of doctors, particularly anesthesiologists, in some provinces of Canada (Canadian Medicine Journal, 2007). Anesthesiologists are medical specialists who provide critical care to patients in a variety of healthcare programs: operative anesthesia for patients in all surgical subspecialties, acute pain management, procedural anesthesia, obstetric care and high-risk medical management, chronic pain management, resuscitation, advanced airway management and intensive care (Intermountain Healthcare, 2011). The current anesthesiologist shortage has a major impact on access to care in each of these areas. Due to a lack of foresight in government policies, the anesthesiologist shortage in Canada is growing and becoming more critical. The Canadian government has failed to train, hire and retain sufficient numbers of anesthetists/assistants for the needs of Canada's growing population. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) estimates that 26,000 more doctors would currently be needed to bring Canada up to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average (Macleans, 2008 p.2). the system promises universality, portability and accessibility; Unfortunately, it faces the political challenge of meeting pubs...... middle of paper ...... an important role in this shortage because if they reconstruct and formulate policies to accept and graduate more anesthesiology majors, this will significantly reduce the anesthesiologist shortage. Finally, the Canadian government must recruit more and retain enough anesthesiologists to meet the needs of its population. Instead of ignoring the issue, the government should see this as an opportunity to dedicate its efforts to building a good healthcare system that will result in healthier Canadians. This will not only require government efforts, but also the efforts of hospitals, maternity providers, health and professional indemnity insurers, consumers and politicians. The use of forward planning in government policies will mitigate this anesthesiologist shortage and prevent it from occurring in the long term.