Enforce the Canada Health Act Now to Protect Healthcare in Ontario

This is the 40^th anniversary of the Canada Health Act. In 1984, building on the impressive work of Canadian icon Tommy Douglas, the federal government enacted this law. This legislation is about publicly funded health insurance, commonly called “Medicare”, and it established the primary objectives of Canadian healthcare policy. Everyone settled down secure in the knowledge that this federal legislation would protect us all moving forward. We would have a public health care system that would be the envy of other countries and other jurisdictions. No longer would Canadians have to fear that their economic status would determine their lifespan and be a barrier to receiving health care when they need it, where they need it and how they need it.

My parents and their generation and generations before them could remember a time when a relatively simple disease or condition might mean an early death if you couldn’t pay for the treatment, you or your family member needed. Every family had memories of those who passed away without medical care…Did I say, “every family”? No, it wasn’t every family; it wasn’t the rich who perished without required medical treatment; it was those who could not pay. A two tier system. As a society Canadians recognized that health care should be accessible to anyone who needs it and they democratically elected members of parliament who would respect that view. When the law was passed it was based on five principles that many of us still hold firm.

Under this law health care that would be publicly administered (operated on a non-profit basis). It would be comprehensive, with a “full range of services to meet most patient’s healthcare needs”. The act was supposed to mean that services would be portable. It didn’t matter where you went within your province or in other provinces, you would be entitled to the same level of healthcare as any other Canadian. It was to be universally available to all Canadians regardless of their economic circumstances and accessible to every person in Canada without prejudice.  That’s what we understood it to mean. And because it was federal legislation, we thought it could not be compromised by any provincial government.

So, what happened? Did we blink and miss something? We get asked so often by people as we travel about these two counties, “Why doesn’t the Canada Health Act protect us anymore? Why doesn’t the federal government enforce it?”Well frankly there is big money to be made in Healthcare…not by the frontline staff. We have seen to our despair in this province that our healthcare workers are often driven to leave and work elsewhere by low rates of pay and impossible working conditions. The government would have us believe that frontline workers are the problem. They are not. Our healthcare is being sold lock, stock, and barrel to moneyed interests as public services morph into private companies that consider their bottom line before the welfare of patients. How many families lost loved ones in long term care facilities during the covid crisis? Because it is a fact that covid was not the only problem lurking within those facilities. Rapacious profit-taking was also a factor. Over the years the protections of Medicare have been chipped away bit by bit, including and especially in Ontario. Excessive executive compensation takes money from the healthcare system to support bureaucrats and businesses at the expense of other Canadians.

We know that health care businesses have undue access to our legislators through the lobbying process and that the same politicians that we elect to represent us end up beholden to those companies. We see it in the bottom line every day. So, the short answer is that the rich are having their way with our government. We must demand that the federal government acts as our watchdog on provinces that are selling off their healthcare. If you want to write a letter today to your MPP, maybe address one to the federal government as well and tell them that for you the failure to protect the Canada Health Act will be an election issue. Ask the hard questions of federal politicians on where they stand. For incumbents especially, no matter which party, let’s check their record on this issue and vote accordingly. Here’s the key question: If we elect you, what are you prepared to do to protect and enforce the Canada Health Act?

Brenda Scott

Co-chair, Grey Bruce Health Coalition