The NDP announced a plan during a campaign visit to the St. John’s region today to ensure that every Canadian has access to a family doctor by 2030.

It’s estimated that 20 per cent of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians do not have a general practitioner for their primary health care.

Leader Jagmeet Singh said one of his measures would be to increase the Canadian Health Transfer to the provinces by one per cent. The money would have to be used to increase access to health care by training and hiring more doctors. The funding would not be a blank cheque though. In order to qualify, a province would have to meet conditions.

About 7,500 physicians would be needed in order achieve his objective but with his plan, Leader Singh said it can happen.

He says there are an estimated 15,000 physicians in Canada that are trained, with the only barrier being they cannot get residency in Canada.

“We also have to train more people in our country and look at having more primary care centres,” he said.

The NDP is trailing in the polls but Singh is confident that Mary Shortall will reclaim St. John’s East.