Healthcare, Pharmacare and Dental Care

When Tommy Douglas introduced universal healthcare to Canada, his vision was for a complete, head-to-toe, comprehensive healthcare system that lefts no one falling through the gaps. Canada is the only developed country in the world with a universal health care system that doesn't include universal coverage of prescription drugs.
Being able to see a doctor does not help if one cannot afford their medication. I have met a senior, who at 80 years old, must blend all their food to survive because they do not have teeth. Mental health support is inaccessible to too many people, often with devastating impact. It should be a no-brainer that a complete healthcare system includes prescription medication, dental care, vision care, and mental health support. With rising costs, it is more important than ever that healthcare is accessible and affordable.

Can’t afford your medication? Universal public pharmacare saves money and lives.

Canadians are paying more for prescription drugs than citizens of other OECD countries, with one in eight Canadians between 55 and 64 saying they cannot afford their medication. Nearly 2 million Canadians couldn’t afford to fill their prescriptions in the last year. And for many people that means more trips to the doctor or the hospital – hurting their health, and costing more in the long run. No one should have to choose between paying for their medicine, or paying for their or their families’ other basic needs.

HANSARD: Oval Question on Abortion Health Care

HANSARD: With $36B planned spending reductions in 2011 what services were impacted by the spending reduction

HESA#113: On Women's Health

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all of the witnesses for sharing your expertise with this committee.

I'm particularly interested in what work you think can be done and what the government should do, particularly in looking at the issues through the lens of under-represented communities, for example, in the racialized community, the LGBTQ2+ community and, I would even venture as far as to say, for seniors, who are often put on the back burner, especially as they age. What are some of the health concerns, both on the research side, as well as on the side of actually providing real supports?

That is to all of the presenters, please.

Dr. Pamela Valentine
President and CEO, MS Canada

I'll jump in. I don't know if anybody else will make the same comment.

We have a real problem with information and data in this country. I sit as the CEO for MS Canada, and I cannot answer what the diversity of our population living with MS in this country looks like. I can give gender—it's fantastic to know that there are three times as many women as there are men—but after that, it's really difficult to answer those questions.

To get data in this country that crosses provincial borders is exceptionally difficult. That will not be a surprise to you. That definitely costs us more time, money and energy to get the solutions that we have today, as Ruth Ann has suggested, into the hands of the people who are going to put that information to work.

It's a very real barrier for us.

HANSARD: Why Conservatives constantly want to roadblock programs Canadians desperately need?

Mailer: Canadian Dental Care

HANSARD: Important to ensure that all families have access to resources to properly support them through difficult times?

HANSARD: Will the Liberals finally support the NDP's plan for universal pharmacare to help Canadians make ends meet?

Parliament VIDEO: Speech on NDP motion “Place people and the planet before oil and gas company profits”

May 17, 2022 - I make a speech on the NDP's Opposition Day motion calling on the government to: (a) stop using Canadian taxpayers’ money to subsidize and finance the oil and gas sector, including by eliminating financing provided through Crown corporations such as Export Development Canada, and excluding oil and gas companies from the $2.6 billion Carbon Capture Tax Credit, by the end of 2022; and (b) re-invest savings from both these measures in renewable energy and in help for Canadians struggling with the high cost of living. Canadians are paying almost $2 per litre of gas at the pump, while oil and gas companies are making record profits. Meanwhile Canada spends 14 times more on financial support to the fossil fuel sector than it does for renewable energy, even though it has failed to meet any of its climate targets to reduce carbon emissions over the last 40 years. There is no Planet B. We must do everything we can today to ensure that the planet will be inhabitable for future generations. The government must do the right thing and place people and the planet over oil and gas company profits now.:

Parliament Video: Speech in support of Bill C-216 “End the war on drugs and save lives”

On Monday May 20 2022, I gave a speech in the House urging all Members of Parliament to vote in support of NDP MP Gord John's Private Members' Bill, C-216, "An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to enact the Expungement of Certain Drug-related Convictions Act and the National Strategy on Substance Use Act":