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Halifax - Cardiac Surgery

Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

At a glance

Approx. quota
1 position
Length
6 years
Applications per year
51–200
Offered interviews
51–75%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

Interviews

1 date, 21 Jan 2027virtual

Halifax, 3 teaching sites

Program website(opens in a new tab)CANPREPP profile(opens in a new tab)CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab)

What stands out about this program

  • Pediatric and congenital division provides ECMO care for all of Atlantic Canada.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • Residents can use a full cardiac surgery outcomes database with a full-time biostatistician.

    From “Training sites” on the CaRMS page

  • Skills lab sessions every other month, with 2-3 cadaver sessions per year.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • This is a 6-year cardiac surgery residency with rotations mainly at the QEII Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Centre in Halifax.
  • PGY3 is a flexible research academic enrichment year, and all residents are expected to engage in research.
  • The adult program performs 900-1000 operations annually, including heart failure surgery with MCS and cardiac transplant.

The summary is written by CdnMD from the program’s CaRMS description.

What training looks like

Setting
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
Rural exposure
Not stated on CaRMS page
Focus areas
  • Early independence
Research
Required · research project · protected time

By year

PGY-3
  • Research academic enrichment year

✓ = the CaRMS page states it; – = not stated. From the program description and its rotation list.

Where you train

Halifax, Nova Scotia: 3 teaching sites.

  • QEII Health Sciences Centre
  • IWK Health Centre
  • Dalhousie affiliated New Brunswick Hospitals

Record systems at the listed sites: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 2 of 3; no published record for 1.

Hospital facts

2 sites · public figures and clinical record systems where they are published

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program. We match names to the sources by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

How to read the figures

  • Hospital type. As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

QEII Health Sciences Centre

Clinical record
One Person One Record, fully electronic record since May 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026

This name covers 2 hospitals in the province’s lists. Each is shown on its own, A to Z, and the numbers are never added together.

QEII - Halifax Infirmary Site (Halifax)
Hospital type
Tertiary
QEII - Victoria General (VG) Site (Halifax)
Hospital type
Tertiary

IWK Health Centre

Clinical record
Oracle Health (One Person One Record), fully electronic record since Dec 2025 As of 31 Oct 2026

Matched to IWK Health Centre (Halifax) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type
Tertiary

Nova Scotia's One Person One Record is live at IWK Health and at Nova Scotia Health's Central Zone. The other zones follow, provincewide by the end of 2026 (the province's date). As of 31 Oct 2026

Verify with the official source: each source button opens the publisher’s own page.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Nova Scotia.

About Halifax

  • People

    439,819residents, 2021 Census

    Municipality of Halifax

  • Housing

    2.6%rental vacancy rate

    October 2025 survey, Halifax, Nova Scotia (census metropolitan area)

  • Winter and summer

    −4.1 °CJanuary mean18.5 °CJuly mean

    1991–2020 normals, Shearwater, 11.0 km away

  • Job outlook

    Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027

More about Halifax (its page: housing, getting around, weather, things to do, and every program that names it)

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them. City figures are public statistics for the place named by the location; they describe the place, not the program.

How they choose

Application file components
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular
  • Leadership skills
  • MSPRs
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts
Return of service
Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.

Application file components as the program describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match)
21 Jan 2027
Format
Virtual
  • Panel

Info sessions

None listed on the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) (read 20 Oct 2026) or on CANPREPP’s events calendar (read 24 Oct 2026). Programs add sessions through the fall.

2 Cardiac Surgery info sessions at other programsAll info sessions

Pay and call

Provincial scale, last updated 24 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab). One provincial scale for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 6 levels this program covers.

Annual salary by PGY level, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-1
$78,578 / year
PGY-2
$83,904 / year
PGY-3
$89,462 / year
PGY-4
$95,485 / year
PGY-5
$101,926 / year
PGY-6
$108,066 / year

How provincial pay and rent compare

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 night in 4 in-house
Post-call rule (provincial)
No work required once handover is completed
Max continuous duty (provincial)
Handover begins by the 24th consecutive hour on duty

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

13 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, Call stipend, CMPA dues paid, and more
Annual vacation
4 weeks
Call stipend
Yes
CMPA dues paid
Yes
Dental coverage
Yes
Educational leave
Yes
Extended health insurance
Yes
Life insurance
$100,000 of insurance
Long-term disabilityinsurance
66.7% of salary
Maternity leave top up after one year’s service
eligible for up to a maximum of 17 weeks top-up allowance for maternity/pregnancy leave
Provincial dues (% of salary)
1.30%
Provincial health insurance
Yes
Sick leave
Yes
Statutory and floating holidays
paid

Past matches

Open after round 1 in 2 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 1 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: Halifax.

Show the table, with round 2
Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
YearOpen after round 1Open after round 2
2018not available0
201900
202000
202100
202200
202300
20241 position open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)1 position open after round 2 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)
20251 position open after round 1 in 2025, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
202600

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

What this means

  • A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late.
  • It says nothing about the quality of the training or how heavy the workload is.
  • A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)).

Year by year

2027 match

The 2027 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviewsWhat changed
CMG stream16 years1 date, 21 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviews
CMG stream16 years1 date, 22 Jan 2026
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
  • Dalhousie University's Cardiac Surgery Residency Program offers outstanding clinical training in all areas of cardiac surgery, providing residents with significant autonomy and a comprehensive range of clinical and research experiences.
  • The program emphasizes resident involvement in research, quality improvement projects, and provides extensive academic and skills training across a 6-year curriculum.
Research
All residents are expected to engage in research projects, with opportunities for basic science investigation and outcomes research. The program strongly encourages obtaining graduate research degrees (MSc or PhD).
Training setting
Training occurs at QEII Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Centre in Halifax, with additional rotations at Dalhousie affiliated New Brunswick Hospitals. The program provides urban academic medical center and community hospital experiences.
Teaching approach
The program follows a Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) approach, focusing on progressive skill development through Entrusted Professional Activities (EPAs) across different training phases, with an emphasis on research, clinical autonomy, and comprehensive surgical training.
Enhanced skills
Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular activities
  • Leadership skills
  • Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts

Positions, length and interviews as each match’s CaRMS pages stated them; what changed from our comparison of the two matches and our readings of the 2027 pages.

Contacts and links

Program directors
Program office

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Program websiteWebsiteCANPREPPCANPREPPThis program on CaRMS(opens in a new tab)

Cardiac Surgery elsewhere

Nearest to Halifax

  • Montreal - Cardiac Surgery, MontréalUniversité de Montréal

    Montreal, QC · 790 km

    2 positions · Regular

    Bilingual
  • Montreal - Cardiac Surgery, McGillMcGill University

    Montreal, QC · 790 km

    1 position · Regular

    Bilingual
  • Ottawa - Cardiac SurgeryUniversity of Ottawa

    Ottawa, ON · 955 km

    1 position · CMG

Source

The program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab) · 2027 match · last approved 11 Sep 2026 · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program ID 36067 · How these pages are made › · See the 2026 match under Year by year

The Applications per year and Offered interviews figures are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS: past cycles, not your odds.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 24 Oct 2026.

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