Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon. My name is Glenn Brimacombe. l am the CEO of the Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations.
ACAHO is the national voice of teaching hospitals, regional health authorities, and the research institutes responsible for the three following integrated activities: we provide Canadians with access to a range of quality specialized and some primary care services; we represent all of the principal teaching sites that train the next generation of Canada's health care professionals; and we provide the large majority of infrastructure to support and conduct health research, medical discovery, and innovation across the country. We also employ in excess of 200,000 Canadians.
There are no other organizations in the health system whose members provide this unique combination of health services. We consider our institutions as vital hubs in the system, in addition to being a national resource.
The association is of the view that there are a number of areas where the federal government has a significant and natural role in improving the health and health care of Canadians and also continuing to position Canada as a global leader when it comes to harnessing the full economic and social benefits that come from investing in research, innovation, and commercialization. In short, it's about strengthening the linkages between health and wealth.
The future of the health care system remains the most important public policy issue on the minds of Canadians. It's clear that wait times are the barometer by which Canadians perceive the performance of the health system. If patients have to wait, then they are looking for certainty in terms of how long they will have to wait for care. Yet, as important as wait times are, their very existence is linked to a range of other policy issues.
Notwithstanding the progress that has come from the first ministers agreement in 2004 and the development of wait time benchmarks, the association is of the view that there is an important and legitimate role for the federal government: to invest in and improve the capacity of the health system to meet current and future needs of Canadians.
To improve the overall responsiveness and flexibility of the health system and to build on the important gains that have been made at the local level when it comes to managing wait times, the association is of the view that there is a strong complementary and collaborative role for the federal government to invest in capacity-building in three strategic areas. The first is to create a national health human resources fund to expand the country's capacity to train a growing number of health care professionals. The second is to accelerate the introduction of interoperable electronic health records through Canada Health Infoway. And the third is to introduce a health delivery infrastructure fund to assist teaching centres to build, and in some cases rebuild, delivery capacity to provide timely care to Canadians. These three strategic investments should be viewed as being time limited and targeted in nature.
ACAHO also views research as the oxygen of an evidence-based health system. It is the basis upon which many sound public policy decisions are based. It is the backbone of a health system upon which cost-effective clinical and administrative decisions are made.
Research is the foundational building block that facilitates innovation in at least three dimensions. It contributes to improving the individual and collective health status of Canadians; it impacts on the architecture of the health system and the manner in which we deliver cost-effective health services; and it produces leading-edge, world-class discoveries that provide opportunities to leverage major economic benefit as well as health gains.
From the perspective of ACAHO, research, innovation, and commercialization processes are an essential component and a distinguishing feature of our members' mission and mandate. Given the breadth and depth of health and research investments by the federal government, one might be tempted to say the time has come to address other more important national priorities.
ACAHO maintains that while the tide has turned through enhanced investments in Canada's health research enterprise, we must continue to sustain the momentum we have created so that we can continue to participate in the benefits that come from future world-class research findings. Understanding that the research and discovery process can take time, we must ensure that we till the soil if we are to fully harvest the fruits of our labour and remain as a world leader.
With this in mind, ACAHO understands that there are a number of strategic pieces that need to work effectively if we are to maximize our investments in Canada's health research and innovation value chain. In this context, the association would bring to the attention of the standing committee the need to resource the different dimensions of the research equation: infrastructure, basic and applied health research, personnel, indirect costs, as well as maximizing the full economic benefits of world-class, breakthrough health research.
Given that we are on the threshold of a biotechnology revolution, not to mention other advances in health research, can we afford any retrenchment in funding the health research enterprise without it having serious consequences on our ability to attract and retain world-class researchers, not to mention our ability to advance the process of discovery and innovation? We believe it cannot.
Finally, a move away from commitments to funding research, innovation, and commercialization will result in Canada falling out of step with those countries that place tremendous value on the linkages between creating knowledge and its spinoff effects, particularly in a global economy that relies on the advancement and translation of knowledge.
In closing, our brief is about building a modern and dynamic society that is up to the challenges of the 21st century. It's about investing in a vibrant and healthy population, and it's about competing and winning in an increasingly interdependent and global economy that places a high value on the creation and translation of knowledge where speed wins.
Thank you.