New BrunswickThe province is spending $21 million on preferred admission for New Brunswick students, but there are no conditions requiring employment in the province afterward.Seats to cost $21M, won’t be attached to a commitment to work in N.B. after graduationSavannah Awde · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2025 4:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesJean-Claude D’Amours, the minister of post-secondary education, training and labour, says the province will do everything it can to attract graduates back to New Brunswick. (Savannah Awde/CBC)The province will spend $21 million on preferred admission to health programs at Dalhousie University for New Brunswick students, but there are no conditions about employment location after graduation.That will apply to 57 seats in programs including pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and dentistry, among others.The agreement with Nova Scotia is meant to address some of the areas where New Brunswick’s current labour supply falls short, Health Minister John Dornan said after an announcement Tuesday in Fredericton. “There’s no area that’s able to see people tomorrow. So there’s months, sometimes years,” he said of current wait times to access physiotherapy or occupational therapy in the public system. WATCH | Students won’t be required to work in N.B. after graduating:N.B students to get preferred seats for some health-care programs at DalhousieNew Brunswick is spending $21 million over five years to secure 57 preferred seats at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia in programs such as physiotherapy, pharmacy and audiology. He noted there are five physiotherapist vacancies at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Jean-Claude D’Amours, the minister of post-secondary education, training and labour, said he hopes the proximity of Dalhousie University will encourage graduates to find employment in New Brunswick.But there is no requirement to do so.”We will work and do everything that’s possible to bring back those students to support our population,” D’Amours said. Health Minister John Dornan says wait times for physiotherapists and occupational therapists in the public system can vary from months to years. (Tara King-Stewart/CBC)Dornan said the province would re-evaluate that approach if necessary.”We have confidence … that people will come home. But we will watch that,” Dornan said. “If no one’s coming home, then we would have to re-think that.”The province also recently announced it would fund a new 12-seat physiotherapy program at the Université de Moncton, slated to begin in the 2027-28 academic year.According to a labour market forecast from the province, New Brunswick will need over 200 physiotherapists in the next 10 years as retirements increase alongside demand. ABOUT THE AUTHORSavannah Awde is a reporter with CBC New Brunswick. You can contact her with story ideas at savannah.awde@cbc.ca.
Over 50 N.B. applicants to see preferred admission to Dalhousie health programs
