日志
The Minister of Health Dr. Jane Philpott is in creating hope for Canadians
||
Frank May 20, 2017, in Waterloo, Canada
Searched some articles about the Honorable Minister of health Dr. Jane Philpott.
From the reports available on Internet about Dr. Jane Philpott, I think that the experiences in multi-transnational life cultured her strong ability to observe the problem from multi-cultured-perspective with broad field of vision, with unique ability, she can uncover the nature of the problem among the clutter.
More significantly, as experienced family doctor, she has been deeply insight the drawbacks of the medical system of Canada, and indicates that Innovation, not just cash, will cure healthcare woes.
She said that drawing some criticism for suggesting the provinces aren't adequately managing health spending, there must be more innovation and accountability measures. "If we are going to make more investments, they need to go to health."
She even says that the health system needs to be transformed.
Oct 15, 2016, the article How the Liberals hope to transform Canadian health care reports that: She'd like a system that's rooted in primary care. That means Canadians dealing with their family physician, G.P. or a nurse practitioner. Rather than being sent across the city for tests and to meet with specialists, she argues for better co-ordination. That rejigging the system to focus it around the primary care provider would save money and lead to healthier patients. She believes that "Fragmentation leads to waste; it leads to frustration, and to dangerous delays in care."
Dr. Jane Philpott has touched the essence of the problem that causes the major waste of medical resources in Canada and also was the potential that can easily improve health care largely in without or lesser spending.
I appreciate her straightforward with sober and rational. I am sure that she will not only dare to say, but also will dare practice what she said.
I especially appreciate her positive attitude towards life, at her age of 52; she earned her Master degree of Public Health in Global Health Concentration in 2012 at the University of Toronto. At age of 50, the most of people have completely lost faith and confidence for enterprising.
Her outstanding work changed my view on democratic elected official.
Her outstanding work made me resonated, because that how to improve the Canadian medical service system has been also my long concern.
Nov. 30, 2013, in article The feasible steps for improving Canada's health care system radically, I expressed similar views as that of Dr. Jane Philpott, I excerpt some as follow.
The poor work ethic of British medical staff caused health care service among worst in developed world; even there were Up to 1200 needless deaths patients abused staff bullied to meet targets, but hospital says no one's to blame; patients were left unwashed in their own filth for up to a month as nurses ignored their requests to use the toilet or change their sheets; four members of one family, including a new-born baby girl died within 18 months after of blunders at the hospital…..; the facts show that the behavior of some medical stall were not simply immoral, but, a typical inhuman.
MRI brain scan reveals that our brain is made up of many different structures. Any specific behavior of people is supported by specific population of brain cells. Any abnormal behavior was caused by the abnormality in brain, such as, Antisocial criminals: the regions that contribute to emotion perception, empathy and recognizing when other people are in distress – were strikingly smaller. It is the quality of brain determines the quality of behaving; it is the reason that some people sober and rational; some people are prone to impulse and radical; some even intended organize and willingly act as suicide bombers.
From the medical findings, we can conclude that, because of brain defects, although some people have human appearance, but in essence, they do not belong to humans anymore due to they are cruel than wild animals when harming others without any hesitate. The defective brain has no cells for perceiving the feeling of empathy was the reason that some medical staff in Britain was with human feature, but, behaved as inhuman nature.
The reality suggests that social governance must consider the quality of people in brain, rather than brainlessly mistreats nowadays’ inhuman crime as simple moral issue by mis-respecting so called values that was for coping with the inhuman manner of Dark Ages.
The incredible reality in Britain inspires its kinship country Canada that plight of medical services is not fully due to under-investment and understaffed, but also the improper social governance, which provides big potential for improvement.
Feb. 09, 2014, in article Management is the Art of Playing Human Nature, I indicate that: human behaviors are determined by dual natures: The animal nature of those inborn selfish instincts and the cultural nature of those acquired altruistic qualities, the Management is the Art of playing human natures, which is to finish purposeful tasks with human culture nature by meeting human greedy of animal nature with payment under the enforcement of regulations.
Therefore, for improving medical services of Canada, the work-performance linked payment, accountability and regulations are all indispensable. It is possible to increase efficiency of medical service in 30% - 40%, only by enhanced management and organizational restructure.
We can establish integrated Hospitals with labs, operating rooms and multi-divisions to gradually replace current system, so that patients can get right treatment at first time to avoid time being wasted in wandering between family doctors, specialists and scatter distributed laboratories, especially, family doctors and specialists, in most of time, they are acting as nurse to send patients somewhere else to continue their wandering. In this process, each step needs a long time to wait.
The health concepts of people are changing from post-illness treatment to prior-illness prevention. We should well use social trends, to move medical service from passively treatment to prevent in advance, thus we will be able to totally reverse the deadlock in medical service of Canada – the increase of investments and the update of new technologies have never caught up the speed of the development of new kind of diseases and the increase of the new patients.
By the integration with Chinese medicine, we can radically reduce the pressure of health care by improving health care from patients fully depending on government to self health-keeping and diseases-treating with self affordable and sustainable by the availability of 10 thousands of well identified and medicinal sorted natural medicines in plants and minerals based on 100 thousands of experience-based formulas covering almost all known diseases. As alternative medicine, the natural Chinese medicine has been approved to use clinically by the laws of US FDA and Canada.
The strength of traditional Chinese medicine is in the treatment of non-communicable or chronic diseases, such diseases are the heavy social burden of Canada and also just the insufficiency of Western medicine. I can prepare some combo by form of OTC tablets in safe of LD50 to treat this kind of diseases, such as, dementia, depression, psychotic, and so on；thereby establish confidence in the public to facilitate the promotion.
For the integration of Chinese medicine, the decisive part lies on the updating in medical philosophy, which is from current Reductionism to Holistic Daoism, from that views human body as a mechanical combination of parts without life to that views human body as emotional living and various organs are in interrelating and mutual influencing; it is that psychological health determines physical health; the therapy is seven tenths in psychological convalescence and only three tenths in treatment.
By introducing patented cancer treatment we can largely relieve the tension in medical service in both of investment and manpower; the patent is to treat patient by injecting drug into tumour within 10 minutes without affecting normal organs or tissues, especially without the need of hospitalisation and postoperative medication while patients stay in a normal quality life when and after treatment.
Above two measures can help to greatly improve the tension situation in Canada’s medical services, especially, to get enough room in medical resources for reforming health care system radically.
With increasingly demand of natural medicine, we can create an approach for Canada Pension Plan in funds making and hedging by botanical planting and processing. Thus, we can optimize the hedging way of CPP from gambling luck in the market of stock and bond to invest into developing real economy with well risk control and profit gain.
By such re-integration, we can easily solve the plight in medical service and Government financial tensions; under the guidance of Daoism (Taoism), to make Canada’s social governance in all aspects well coordinated and mutually supported.
My above ideas was well matched the ideas of Dr. Jane Philpott of innovation, accountability and rejigging the system.
I would like to say that the Minister of Health Dr. Jane Philpott in creating hope for Canadians.
Minister of Health Mandate Letter | Prime Minister of Canada
Contact information
Hon.Jane.Philpott@Canada.ca
70 Colombine Driveway,
Tunney's Pasture
Postal Location: 0906C
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Telephone: 613-957-0200
Fax: 613-952-1154
The Honourable Jane Philpott was elected as MP for Markham-Stouffville on October 19, 2015 and appointed as Minister of Health November 4, 2015.
Prior to entering politics, Dr. Philpott led an extensive career in family medicine, public health, medical education and global advocacy for HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Philpott studied medicine at the University of Western Ontario, completed a Family Medicine residency at the University of Ottawa, and a Tropical Medicine fellowship in Toronto. In 2012, she completed a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto.
Between 1989 and 1998, Dr. Philpott lived in Niger Republic, West Africa where she practiced general medicine and helped to develop a training program for village health workers.
In 1998, she and her husband, Pep, moved to Stouffville, Ontario where she practiced as a family physician at Markham Stouffville Hospital for more than 15 years and served as Chief of Family Medicine from 2008 to 2014. She also led the opening of the Health for All Family Health Team – a new primary care home for 10,000 patients in Markham-Stouffville, and the Markham Family Medicine Teaching Unit that has trained 45 new family physicians in the community since 2010. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family & Community Medicine.
Some of her global advocacy work includes founding Give a Day to World AIDS in 2004, which has raised over $4 million to help those affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Dr. Philpott was the first Family Medicine lead for the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration, where she was instrumental in helping Addis Ababa University develop Ethiopia’s first training program for Family Medicine.
Locally, Dr. Philpott is a founder of TEDxStouffville, and is a member of the Community Mennonite Church in Stouffville.
Dr. Philpott is married, has four children, and lives in Stouffville, Ontario.
Follow information was from Jane Philpott - Wikipedia
Early life and education
Philpott was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her childhood was spent in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Princeton, New Jersey; and Cambridge, Ontario. Her father, Rev. Wallace Little, was a Presbyterian minister.[3] Her mother was a schoolteacher. She is the oldest of four daughters.
Philpott attended high school at Galt Collegiate Institute.[4] She received her medical training at University of Western Ontario where she was granted a Doctor of Medicine degree, graduating cum laude, Faculty of Medicine in 1984.[5] She later earned her Masters of Public Health in Global Health Concentration in 2012 from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Philpott also completed a Tropical Medicine fellowship at Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario in 1986-87.[6] From 1984-86 she earned her Family Medicine Residency in Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa/Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario.[7]
Medical career
Philpott was a family doctor in Markham-Stouffville from 1998 to 2015. She served as Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham-Stouffville Hospital from 2008 to 2014. She is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.[7] She was the Lead Physician of the Health For All Family Health Team in Markham, Ontario.[8] She worked in Niger in West Africa from 1989-1998 with a faith-based non-governmental organization, where she practiced general medicine and developed a training program for village health workers.[9] She returned to Niger in 2005 with Médecins sans Frontières during a food crisis.[6][10][11] She was the Family Medicine lead in the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) from 2008 to 2014. In this capacity she helped colleagues at Addis Ababa University to develop the first training program for Family Medicine in Ethiopia that began in 2013.[12] The first seven students in this programme graduated in early 2016.[13] Philpott has been an advocate for Canada to give greater attention to the rights of refugees, particularly in respect of the health care afforded to them. In an article in the Toronto Star in 2014 she argued that "the Conservative government's cuts to refugee health care are 'cruel and unusual'".[14] Philpott is a co-curator of TEDxStouffville founded in 2012 with Dr. Eileen Nicolle. The TEDxStouffville committee, a collaboration between Health for All Family Health Team, Markham Stouffville Hospital, the University of Toronto and residents of the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, develops its program with live speakers on the theme of Social Determinants of Health.[9][15][16][17]
HIV/AIDS advocacy work
"A Coin for Every Country" was an educational campaign geared to intermediate level classrooms to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Philpott was a founder of this initiative, that was delivered through schools in the York Region District School Board.[18][19][20] Philpott is the founder of the "Give a Day to World AIDS" movement which started in 2004 as a way to engage Canadians in responding to HIV. Since 2004, Give a Day has grown in the medical, legal and business communities and, as of 2014, had raised over 4 million dollars to help those affected by HIV in Africa.
Health Portfolio
The Minister of Health is responsible for maintaining and improving the health of Canadians. This is supported by the Health Portfolio which comprises Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The Health Portfolio consists of approximately 12,000 full-time equivalent employees and an annual budget of over $3.8 billion.
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Mitigating risks to food safety is the CFIA's highest priority, and the health and safety of Canadians is the driving force behind the design and development of CFIA programs. The CFIA, in collaboration and partnership with industry, consumers, and federal, provincial and municipal organizations, continues to work towards protecting Canadians from preventable health risks related to food and zoonotic diseases.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is Canada's premier federal agency for health research. Its objective is to create new knowledge that can be translated into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened health care system.
- Health Canada
Health Canada is the Federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health, while respecting individual choices and circumstances.
- Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board is a quasi-judicial body that protects consumers and contributes to health care by ensuring that the manufacturers' prices of patented medicines are not excessive.
- Public Health Agency of Canada
The Public Health Agency of Canada has been created to deliver on the Government of Canada's commitment to help protect the health and safety of all Canadians. Its activities focus on preventing chronic diseases, like cancer and heart disease, preventing injuries and responding to public health emergencies and infectious disease outbreaks.
Innovation, not just cash, will cure healthcare woes, Philpott tells doctors
Federal health minister addressed CMA annual meeting in Vancouver on Tuesday
The Canadian Press Posted: Aug 23, 2016 4:23 PM PT Last Updated: Aug 23, 2016 4:37 PM PT
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott answers questions from reporters after addressing the Canadian Medical Association's General Council 2016, in Vancouver. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
The problems facing Canada's healthcare system will not be solved by just spending more money, Health Minister Jane Philpott said Tuesday as she promised the country's doctors the federal government is committed to finding innovative solutions.
Ongoing talks about a new health agreement with the provinces and territories is an opportunity to set healthcare on a new course, she told the Canadian Medical Association's annual meeting in Vancouver.
She said solutions can be found in encouraging better collaboration between family doctors and specialists, using digital technology to keep records and share information, and giving greater priority to the social factors that affect health, particularly among Aboriginal Peoples.
- Canada must examine why it tops opioid-consuming countries: Health Minister Jane Philpott
- Health Minister Jane Philpott 'anxious' to sign new health accord by year's end
Philpott drew applause from association members at the meeting when she said social inequity is the biggest barrier to improving the health of Canadians.
"The most perverse inequity is among Aboriginal communities," she said. "It's far past time for us to do something about this."
Other countries, including Britain and Australia, are getting better healthcare outcomes than Canada while spending less per capita and as a percentage of GDP because they have done a better job of coordinating care, Philpott said.
She also highlighted the need to strengthen primary care, telling the audience that countries with systems rooted in primary care provided by general practitioners have the best outcomes at the lowest costs.
She said negotiations on a new health care agreement are an opportunity to "trigger" the innovation needed to fix the system, telling the doctors that those who think Canada is stuck with its current system are wrong.
"This is small thinking. You and I know we need to think big if this is going to change," Philpott added.
The association has identified securing the resources needed to care for the country's aging population as a pressing need in a new health accord. It has developed several recommendations it would like to see in a new agreement, including more funding for provinces with larger populations of seniors, coverage of prescription drugs, and funding for long-term care, home care and caregivers.
Philpott said suggestions that the aging population will overwhelm the system is one of the myths facing healthcare in Canada.
She said part of the solution can be found in Ontario, where the province spends $55 a day to provide a person with care in their home. With seniors and their families preferring treatment at home, more needs to be done to achieve that goal, she said, adding that despite the cost efficiency only about five per cent of provincial health budgets goes to fund home care.
How the Liberals hope to transform Canadian health care
Jane Philpott's pledge to make system better likely to be a tough sell among provinces who want more cash
By Catherine Cullen, CBC News Oct 15, 2016 11:50 AM ET Updated: Oct 15, 2016 11:54 AM ET
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-care-philpott-innovation-1.3803707
The federal Liberals say they want to streamline the system by focusing on the primary care provider as well as boosting home care. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)
"It might seem dishonourable for a Minister of the Crown to even say this," Jane Philpott told a room full of doctors in August. "It's a myth that Canada has the best health care system in the world."
Long before Donald Trump called out the Canadian health care system as "slow" and "catastrophic in certain ways", this country's health minister offered a more modest criticism: Canada could be doing much better. In fact, during the same speech, Philpott told the Canadian Medical Association that Canada's health care system ought to be transformed.
- The death of Patient X and the failure of the system
- Innovation, not just cash, will cure healthcare woes, Philpott tells doctors
"This is an opportunity that we must not miss. How can we leverage those Health Accord discussions to trigger the system transformation that we all recognize to be necessary?"
On the health file, the stand-off with the provinces over funding has dominated the discourse and that likely will continue this week when the provinces and territories sit down with Philpott. But Philpott insists her goal is to talk about how to run the Canadian health care system.
Canadians could be forgiven for missing the Health Minister's calls for revolutionizing the system. Liberal projects like bringing in 25,000 Syrian refugees and trying implementing carbon pricing have attracted a lot more attention.
'We're all talking about conditions — strings attached, no strings, loosely attached, tightly attached, whatever — but we're not talking about the real thing that comes first: Funding' - Gaétan Barrette, Quebec health minister
Health care is a provincial and territorial responsibility and the members of Canada's federation want to talk dollars, but Philpott insists she doesn't control the purse strings. So talking about changing the system may be a tough sell.
Minister of Health Jane Philpott, shown in the House of Commons on Sept. 29, meets next week with provincial and territorial health ministers. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
A former family doctor herself, Philpott's remarks over the past several months paint a picture of what she'd like Canada's health care system to look like, even as she acknowledges that some of the changes go beyond what the federal government can do.
Less fragmentation, more primary care
Philpott admits a bias. She'd like a system that's rooted in primary care. That means Canadians dealing with their family physician, G.P. or a nurse practitioner. Rather than being sent across the city for tests and to meet with specialists, she argues for better co-ordination.
Philpott says rejigging the system to focus it around the primary care provider would save money and lead to healthier patients.
"Fragmentation leads to waste, it leads to frustration, and to dangerous delays in care."
There's an app for that
Philpott argues that if Canadians can do their banking on their phone, accessing health care should be easier.
"It's shocking that in the age of Facebook and e-commerce, we're still using fax machines in doctors' offices and most Canadians still can't go online for their health records."
She's also enthusiastic about other forms of innovation to help make health care more efficient. It's something she and the provincial health ministers have agreed is a priority, though Quebec's Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said he's skeptical about whether most proposed innovations in health care actually save money.
Home care
Home care has been the Liberals' biggest health care pitch. They've pledged $3 billion over four years to the cause, though other, related services like palliative care could also be funded by that money.
In her speech to the CMA, Philpott pointed to statistics about the cost of health care in Ontario. She said it costs $840 a day to keep a patient in hospital, while home care costs just $55 a day. Along with the savings, she says most patients would prefer to be at home.
Social inequity
As if the health care file wasn't big enough, Philpott says better health care means tackling the even larger issue of social inequity, an issue she says that all of government and even society needs to address.
She points particularly to the Indigenous population, saying lack of education, crowded housing, high unemployment and incarceration rates all have health repercussions. In a speech to health care professionals in Ottawa in September, she cited the stunning statistic that amongst Inuit, the rates of tuberculosis are 375 times higher than those for non-Indigenous Canadians.
Pushback?
It's hard to imagine provincial or territorial ministers arguing against better co-ordination or opposing more home care. Some probably share the same goals. But to see where opposition might arise, you only need to take a closer look at what Philpott is saying.
Quebec Health Minister Gaetan Barrette has said funding is a major issue for the provinces and no system change can come without a federal commitment to more cash. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)
"It's time to reclaim the political will, time and resources to develop and implement bold reforms in the funding and organization of front-line delivery," she said back in August.
Some provinces have no interest in getting direction from the federal government on "bold reforms." Others who might be on side are more likely to resist when they can't agree with the federal government on funding.
Take the question of innovation in health care. In September ,while attending the same conference as Philpott, Quebec's Barrette offered a warning about innovation. He said that, while it does sometimes improve the system, it almost never delivers the kind of cost saving it's expected to. The underlying message for Philpott: If you want me to innovate, you'll need to find more money to pay for it.
That's presuming such a thing would even be up for discussion. Barrette told reporters that any focus on how health care dollars are spent is a kind of trap to distract from the question of how much money is available.
"We're all talking about conditions — strings attached, no strings, loosely attached, tightly attached, whatever — but we're not talking about the real thing that comes first: Funding. It's a trap!"
If talking about how how health care is delivered is essentially off the table, agreeing on "bold reforms" and "system transformation" becomes virtually impossible.
Health ministers wrap tense talks with no agreement on federal health funding
Ottawa plans to reduce annual increases in health transfers
By Kathleen Harris, Peter Zimonjic, CBC News Oct 18, 2016 4:41 PM ET Updated: Oct 18, 2016 6:50 PM ET
Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, centre, speaks during a federal, provincial and territorial health ministers' meeting in Toronto on, October 18, 2016. (Christopher Katsarov/Canadian Press)
Federal and provincial health ministers emerged from a day of tense talks in Toronto still at odds over the federal government's planned cut to the annual increase in federal funding for health care.
Next year the Canada Health Transfer, the amount of money the federal government gives the provinces each year to pay for health care, will stop increasing by six per cent and instead will only increase by three per cent.
Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said the single "concrete" takeaway from the meeting is that the federal government is cutting health-care funding and forcing the provinces and territories to make tough choices.
"For today we know there will be a cut of $60 billion of funding from the federal government over the next 10 years," Barrette said.
"That means all provinces and territories must make difficult choices because we are being asked to do more with less. And on top of that we are being told what to do. So I don't think this is the end of the story."
- Ministers prime for health spending debate
- Philpott says health dollars must go to health
- Battle brews over health spending
Barrette said the premiers are frustrated not only with the prospect of less money, but also with having any additional money tied to delivering specific programs, such as home care. He is optimistic the overall system can be improved, however.
Philpott defended the government's funding position, insisting that any new investments must be made with a clear plan to improve patient care.
"It's really important for Canadians to know that we are going to continue to contribute to the Canadian Health Transfer," she said. "In fact over the next five years there will be an additional contribution, something in the order of $19 billion on top of the already $36 billion per year."
Philpott said that amount will continue to rise over time and the Liberal government will give additional funds, first for home care, and then down the line for other areas such as mental health, she said.
"Canadians want to see their health-care system get better and we have a responsibility to do that," she said.
'Responsibility' to deliver
Philpott said discussions over dollars will continue, but the "bottom line" is that there is a desire to put patients first.
"I've been pleased there is so much common ground," she said, noting that all the ministers agreed on improving care and services in a number of areas including:
- Making prescription medication affordable.
- Taking action on the opioid crisis.
- Working toward a new health accord.
- Committing to further talks on home care.
- Increasing access to mental health.
- Fostering innovation in the health-care sector.
But the most pressing issue remained the federal government's plan to cut the annual funding increase from six per cent to three per cent.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins called the reduction in the increase of the transfer "inadequate" and said it signalled a "declining partnership" with Ottawa as health-care costs continue to increase at a greater rate than the health transfer.
"So to put that in context," Hoskins said, "Ontario stands to gain in home and community care [with] the $3-billion commitment made by the federal government, to the tune of probably $250 million next year, roughly, but we will lose approximately $400 million if the federal government goes through with their position that the [health transfer] will be limited to three per cent."
He also said many of the ministers took offence at Philpott's suggestion that federal funds earmarked for health care went into general revenues without certainty it was being spent on health services.
Innovation, accountability
Laying out her demands Monday, Philpott said there must be more innovation and accountability measures.
"If we are going to make more investments, they need to go to health," she said, drawing some criticism for suggesting the provinces aren't adequately managing health spending.
The federal government has also pledged more than $3 billion in targeted funding for home care, including palliative care.
A reduction in the rate of increase of the Canada Health Transfer will mean a $1-billion shortfall nationally in 2017-18, Hoskins said.
The six per cent annual increase has been in place since the last health accord was negotiated in 2004.
The provinces and territories are pushing to postpone the reduced rate until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets with premiers in a meeting scheduled for Dec. 8-9.
Minister of Health Mandate Letter
Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of CanadaNovember 4, 2015
http://pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-health-mandate-letter
Dear Dr. Philpott:
I am honoured that you have agreed to serve Canadians as Minister of Health.
We have promised Canadians a government that will bring real change – in both what we do and how we do it. Canadians sent a clear message in this election, and our platform offered a new, ambitious plan for a strong and growing middle class. Canadians expect us to fulfill our commitments, and it is my expectation that you will do your part in delivering on those promises to Canadians.
We made a commitment to invest in growing our economy, strengthening the middle class, and helping those working hard to join it. We committed to provide more direct help to those who need it by giving less to those who do not. We committed to public investment as the best way to spur economic growth, job creation, and broad-based prosperity. We committed to a responsible, transparent fiscal plan for challenging economic times.
I expect Canadians to hold us accountable for delivering these commitments, and I expect all ministers to do their part – individually and collectively – to improve economic opportunity and security for Canadians.
It is my expectation that we will deliver real results and professional government to Canadians. To ensure that we have a strong focus on results, I will expect Cabinet committees and individual ministers to: track and report on the progress of our commitments; assess the effectiveness of our work; and align our resources with priorities, in order to get the results we want and Canadians deserve.
If we are to tackle the real challenges we face as a country – from a struggling middle class to the threat of climate change – Canadians need to have faith in their government’s honesty and willingness to listen. I expect that our work will be informed by performance measurement, evidence, and feedback from Canadians. We will direct our resources to those initiatives that are having the greatest, positive impact on the lives of Canadians, and that will allow us to meet our commitments to them. I expect you to report regularly on your progress toward fulfilling our commitments and to help develop effective measures that assess the impact of the organizations for which you are answerable.
I made a personal commitment to bring new leadership and a new tone to Ottawa. We made a commitment to Canadians to pursue our goals with a renewed sense of collaboration. Improved partnerships with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments are essential to deliver the real, positive change that we promised Canadians. No relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with Indigenous Peoples. It is time for a renewed, nation-to-nation relationship with Indigenous Peoples, based on recognition of rights, respect, co-operation, and partnership.
We have also committed to set a higher bar for openness and transparency in government. It is time to shine more light on government to ensure it remains focused on the people it serves. Government and its information should be open by default. If we want Canadians to trust their government, we need a government that trusts Canadians. It is important that we acknowledge mistakes when we make them. Canadians do not expect us to be perfect – they expect us to be honest, open, and sincere in our efforts to serve the public interest.
Our platform guides our government. Over the course of our four-year mandate, I expect us to deliver on all of our commitments. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we fulfill our promises, while living within our fiscal plan. Other issues will arise or will be brought to our attention by Canadians, stakeholders, and the public service. It is my expectation that you will engage constructively and thoughtfully and add priorities to your agenda when appropriate.
As Minister, you will be held accountable for our commitment to bring a different style of leadership to government. This will include: close collaboration with your colleagues; meaningful engagement with Opposition Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Committees and the public service; constructive dialogue with Canadians, civil society, and stakeholders, including business, organized labour, the broader public sector, and the not-for-profit and charitable sectors; and identifying ways to find solutions and avoid escalating conflicts unnecessarily. As well, members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, indeed all journalists in Canada and abroad, are professionals who, by asking necessary questions, contribute in an important way to the democratic process. Your professionalism and engagement with them is essential.
Canadians expect us, in our work, to reflect the values we all embrace: inclusion, honesty, hard work, fiscal prudence, and generosity of spirit. We will be a government that governs for all Canadians, and I expect you, in your work, to bring Canadians together.
You are expected to do your part to fulfill our government’s commitment to transparent, merit-based appointments, to help ensure gender parity and that Indigenous Canadians and minority groups are better reflected in positions of leadership.
As Minister of Health, your overarching goal will be to strengthen our publicly-funded universal health care system and ensure that it adapts to new challenges. Healthcare across Canada is changing at a rapid pace to keep up with the changing needs of an aging population and advances in health technology. The federal government must be an essential partner in improving outcomes and quality of care for Canadians. I expect you to work with provincial and territorial governments to support them in their efforts to make home care more available, prescription drugs more affordable, and mental health care more accessible. When Canadians are in good physical and mental health, they are able to work better, be more productive, and contribute more fully to our economy while living healthier, happier lives. Our health care system provides Canadians with peace of mind, but we need to make the investments necessary to ensure it can continue to evolve and innovate.
In particular, I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes to deliver on your top priorities:
- Engage provinces and territories in the development of a new multi-year Health Accord. This accord should include a long term funding agreement. It should also:
- support the delivery of more and better home care services. This includes more access to high quality in-home caregivers, financial supports for family care, and, when necessary, palliative care;
- advance pan-Canadian collaboration on health innovation to encourage the adoption of new digital health technology to improve access, increase efficiency and improve outcomes for patients;
- improve access to necessary prescription medications. This will include joining with provincial and territorial governments to buy drugs in bulk, reducing the cost Canadian governments pay for these drugs, making them more affordable for Canadians, and exploring the need for a national formulary; and
- make high quality mental health services more available to Canadians who need them.
- Promote public health by: increasing vaccination rates; introducing new restrictions on the commercial marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children, similar to those now in place in Quebec; bringing in tougher regulations to eliminate trans fats and to reduce salt in processed foods, similar to those in the United States; and improving food labels to give more information on added sugars and artificial dyes in processed foods.
- Work with the Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities in increasing funding to the Public Health Agency of Canada to support a national strategy to raise awareness for parents, coaches, and athletes on concussion treatment.
- Introduce plain packaging requirements for tobacco products, similar to those in Australia and the United Kingdom.
- Support the Ministers of Justice and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness on efforts that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana.
- Work with the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs to update and expand the Nutrition North program, in consultation with Northern communities.
These priorities draw heavily from our election platform commitments. The government’s agenda will be further articulated through Cabinet discussions and in the Speech from the Throne when Parliament opens.
I expect you to work closely with your Deputy Minister and his or her senior officials to ensure that the ongoing work of your department is undertaken in a professional manner and that decisions are made in the public interest. Your Deputy Minister will brief you on issues your department may be facing that may require decisions to be made quickly. It is my expectation that you will apply our values and principles to these decisions, so that issues facing your department are dealt with in a timely and responsible manner, and in a way that is consistent with the overall direction of our government.
Our ability, as a government, to successfully implement our platform depends on our ability to thoughtfully consider the professional, non-partisan advice of public servants. Each and every time a government employee comes to work, they do so in service to Canada, with a goal of improving our country and the lives of all Canadians. I expect you to establish a collaborative working relationship with your Deputy Minister, whose role, and the role of public servants under his or her direction, is to support you in the performance of your responsibilities.
In the coming weeks, the Privy Council Office (PCO) will be contacting you to set up a meeting with PCO officials, your Deputy Minister and the Prime Minister’s Office to further discuss your plans, commitments and priorities.
We have committed to an open, honest government that is accountable to Canadians, lives up to the highest ethical standards, and applies the utmost care and prudence in the handling of public funds. I expect you to embody these values in your work and observe the highest ethical standards in everything you do. When dealing with our Cabinet colleagues, Parliament, stakeholders, or the public, it is important that your behaviour and decisions meet Canadians’ well-founded expectations of our government. I want Canadians to look on their own government with pride and trust.
As Minister, you must ensure that you are aware of and fully compliant with the Conflict of Interest Act and Treasury Board policies and guidelines. You will be provided with a copy of Open and Accountable Government to assist you as you undertake your responsibilities. I ask that you carefully read it and ensure that your staff does so as well. I draw your attention in particular to the Ethical Guidelines set out in Annex A of that document, which apply to you and your staff. As noted in the Guidelines, you must uphold the highest standards of honesty and impartiality, and both the performance of your official duties and the arrangement of your private affairs should bear the closest public scrutiny. This is an obligation that is not fully discharged by simply acting within the law. Please also review the areas of Open and Accountable Government that we have expanded or strengthened, including the guidance on non-partisan use of departmental communications resources and the new code of conduct for exempt staff.
I know I can count on you to fulfill the important responsibilities entrusted in you. In turn, please know that you can count on me to support you every day in your role as Minister.
I am deeply grateful to have this opportunity to serve with you as we build an even greater country. Together, we will work tirelessly to honour the trust Canadians have given us.
Yours sincerely,
Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada- Engage provinces and territories in the development of a new multi-year Health Accord. This accord should include a long term funding agreement. It should also:
