Regulations Amending the Canada Student Loans Regulations and the Canada Student Financial Assistance Regulations

This regulation does not directly affect businesses — it targets individual healthcare professionals (family physicians, family medicine residents, nurses, and nurse practitioners) who carry Canada Student Loan debt and choose to work in smaller or more remote communities. Over 200 communities will become newly eligible, opening loan forgiveness to an estimated 935 additional doctors and nurses over 10 years, while roughly 25 communities with populations now exceeding 30,000 will lose eligibility once transitional protections expire. Healthcare professionals already receiving the benefit in communities that lose eligibility are protected: if you started working in an eligible community before it lost its status, you keep receiving the benefit as long as you stay continuously employed there. The total federal cost of expanded loan forgiveness is $87.4 million (present value) over 10 years, benefiting approximately 1.7 million Canadians in newly eligible areas who will gain better access to primary care.