Nursing shortages continue to strain Canada’s health-care system despite a growing number of people working in the field, with vacancies for licensed practical nurses remaining particularly high, new Statistics Canada data show.
Licensed practical nurses had a job vacancy rate of 12.3 percent in 2025, nearly five times the 2.5 percent rate recorded in 2016, according to an Oct. 19 Statistics Canada report first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The shortages persisted even as Canada’s health-care workforce surpassed 1.7 million last year, up nearly 280,000 since 2019. The report also found that health-care employers were struggling to fill nearly 68,000 positions last year, almost three times the number recorded in 2016….