Building Canada’s inclusive, sustainable future starts with solving health care woes: McLellan

Tackling Canada’s health care “crisis” is key to boosting productivity and economic prosperity, says Coalition for a Better Future Co-Chair Anne McLellan.

McLellan said while the health care system represents “solidarity” for Canadians, the pandemic exposed how it is failing the elderly, inner-city families and children. She said it has now reached a “crisis point.”

“Without good health, without wellness, without accessibility to that which delivers and provides good health, we will not have the inclusive, sustainable society that will drive the economic growth,” McLellan said in a recent address to the Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada Expo in Vancouver. 

After her address, McLellan took part in a fireside chat question-and-answer session with Katie Heelis, vice-president and health practice lead at Enterprise Health.

While sick days are earned and deserved, preventative measures that come through a strong health care system will mean fewer lost days of productivity and a stronger economy, she added.

McLellan served as federal health minister from 2002-2003, She described health care and the economy as parts of a “mutually reinforcing public policy wheel” because Canadians must also work to advance inclusive economic growth to finance a robust health system that serves a growing population, she said. 

“Without economic growth, we will not be able to sustain the prosperity and quality of life that we all want. We will not be able to sustain a health care system that at least we profess to be open and available to all Canadians,” she said. “That's why, as far as I'm concerned, every Canadian must care about inclusive sustainable economic growth.”

McLellan said despite the fact that Canadians see universal health care as a unifying source, we rank poorly compared to other countries in some measures of delivering quality care.

There are fundamental objectives such as improving access to hospitals and acute care facilities and cutting wait times for major surgeries, but finding innovative solutions is also key to addressing problems in health care, she said. As an example, she pointed to the significant “promise” of community health hubs that bring social workers, mental health and addictions counsellors together as a team to successfully serve the community.

That team approach should also be adopted by Canada’s politicians instead of chronic jurisdictional bickering, she said, noting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers are under tremendous public pressure to work together to improve health care. 

Simply throwing more money at the system is not the answer, she said. Elected officials at all levels must show “political courage” to end the cycle of just demanding more dollars from the feds, then transferring more money without making the fundamental reforms that are needed.

Left to right: Katie Heelis, Vice-President, Enterprise Health; Sandra Hanna, CEO, Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada; Hon. Anne McLellan, co-chair, Coalition for a Better Future

“Health care in Canada is the third rail: You touch, chances are you get electrocuted. And no politician, therefore, is all that keen on going in and upsetting the applecart even though probably a lot of systemic change is what is required,” she said.

Asked by Katie Heelis, vice-president and health practice lead at Enterprise Health, about the perennial debate around public versus private health care, McLellan said for too long, politicians have avoided discussions because of potential backlash. She hopes that we are now mature enough as a society to have a conversation around how best to deliver services.

“I believe as a principle of solidarity, health care – wherever it's delivered, however it is delivered, whoever is delivering it – takes your health card,” she said. “That's the solidarity principle that we all share: We all have access. And it's not about how much money we make; we all have a health card. And when we go to a clinic or a hospital, our GP, that health card is presented, and it's taken.”

The Coalition represents 142 member organizations and includes a diverse group of leaders from business, labour and civil society. It has developed a comprehensive Scorecard to measure the well-being of Canadians based on 21 key metrics across three central goals: winning globally, living better and growing sustainably.

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