It's an excellent question. There are probably never enough dollars for health care or health as compared with all the other competing priorities that we have in governments, I'm sure. I'm sometimes conflicted, as a pediatrician. I have a child, like Dr. McLaughlin, and I also work on the wards for children with rare diseases. The drug costs can be enormous for one family, versus that same money going to help children who are living in poverty. How do you make those decisions? It's not easy, that's for sure. They are both deserving.
I would add also that when my colleague, Dr. Verchere, was talking about diabetes and prevention and control for type 2 diabetes, obesity is a major contributing factor. More children who are living in poverty have problems with their weight, because the foods they can afford to buy are usually high in carbs. They can't afford healthy foods, and they often can't afford to participate in healthy activities like sports teams and things.
To me, poverty is at the root of a lot of our issues in terms of the social determinants of health. The federal government has made a big contribution to that in the last five years. The provinces and the feds have to continue to do that, so that those one in 10 kids living in families below the absolute poverty line are given a hand up. That will go a long way in settling not everything, but a lot of things when it comes to our health.
You also mentioned education. There is a tremendous opportunity to share best education practices across the country, including in learning to read. The Ontario government just had a “right to read” program, using new evidence-based methodologies to teach kids to read. One in three kids is below the standard in Nova Scotia, and probably many other provinces, by the time they are in grade 3 or grade 6, because we are using old methods.
There are so many good things that contribute to health and resilience and children having the best shot, and we can share them across this country. Again, I would focus on this. We need one group or body to be able to bring this all together to advise the feds and the provinces on best policies we can share, to measure outcomes, to do better and to make Canada the best place to raise kids.