I work at the School of Population and Public Health. We know the evidence is clear. Medical care does not make Canadians healthy. It treats our illness after we've already become unhealthy. If we want a healthier population, we need to invest in what this health minister is actually good at describing, the social determinants of health. These are often investments that come earlier in the life course; and in particular, you don't want the generation raising young kids to be squeezed for time and money because that then creates a contagion their kids pick up. This is why across this country we picked up somewhere between one in four and one in three kids starting kindergarten who are vulnerable in ways that mean they are more likely to fail, more likely to go to jail, and wait for it, more likely to wind up sick themselves as adults.
Right now I think the federal government is trying to drive a bit of a hard bargain with provinces trying to contain health care expenditures. The worthwhile thing...if the dollars that might have gone into that Health Accord go into the things that actually promote well-being.