The provincial government says it is working on an agreement to eventually get more seats at the college that trains vets in Western Canada.

Over the last three to five years, Dr. Rob Ashburner has been forced to turn a growing number patients away from his Vancouver veterinary clinic.

The wait for a routine visit has increased and when emergencies arise, schedules have to be juggled and appointments deferred.

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“We are booked solid,” said Ashburner, who opened the West King Edward Animal Clinic more than 30 years ago.

The reason veterinarians are so busy is rooted in a shortage of vets. The shortfall is due to a number of factors, including retirements, he said, but “in general I think the feeling among veterinarians is that we’re not training enough veterinarians.”

Last year, the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association conducted a labour market study that found a significant shortage of vets across all regions of the province and in most types of practice.

The worst shortages are outside of major urban areas and in specializations other than small and exotic animals, such as large animals, poultry, fur bearers, fish pathologies and public-sector practice.

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There are nearly 1,600 veterinarians employed in the province, and it’s estimated that if demand continues to grow, B.C. will need more than 100 new vets each year to keep up. That’s in addition to those needed to cover the current shortage.

The Paws for Hope Animal Foundation called the shortage “alarming,” in an emailed statement and said unless something is done soon, things will only get worse.

“In an already overburdened sector, as the veterinarian shortage increases, access to veterinary care will decrease,” said executive director Kathy Powelson. “This will create the potential for a crisis in animal welfare, particularly, in areas where veterinarian shortages are already impacting access to service.”

One way to address the shortage is to train more vets, according to the study, along with facilitating the hiring of experienced foreign-trained vets. Almost half of veterinarians working in B.C. have graduated from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan, which trains students from Western Canada.

Through an interprovincial agreement, seats at the college are funded by each of the western provinces, and a certain number of seats are set aside for each province. There are 20 seats reserved for B.C. students. Recently, Alberta withdrew funding for its 20 seats in favour of investing in its own veterinary school at the University of Calgary.

Corey Van’t Haaf, executive director of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, said B.C. badly needs those seats.

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“There’s no doubt we could fill 40 seats with highly qualified people,” Van’t Haaf said.

Van’t Haaf conceded there’s no guarantee those students will come back to B.C., but she said the society does monitor the return rate and nearly all end up practising in the province, plus new vets from elsewhere can end up in B.C.

She said the society has lobbied the provincial government, which ordered the labour force survey, to fund the 20 additional seats, however the response has not been positive.

“The minister has said that veterinary medicine is not a funding priority for the government, and that she will not take those 20 seats,” Van’t Haaf said, referring to Advanced Education Minister Melanie Mark.

Mark was not available for an interview, but an emailed statement from her ministry said the province is in the process of negotiating a funding agreement with the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the college that will include provisions to allow for a future increase in the number of seats for B.C. No specifics were provided.

The agreement is expected to be finalized next spring.

In the meantime, the province will maintain its commitment to the college. In 2020, it will pay $8.4 million to support 20 students in each year of the four-year undergraduate program, a graduate program and the teaching hospital.

B.C. students can apply for five unassigned seats that will become available next fall under a pilot project at the college , but they would pay significantly more tuition — about $61,000 per year versus about $11,000 for a seat that is subsidized by the province.