Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise on debate today. I will be sharing my time with the member for Yukon.
I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak to this debate, which is about putting forward ideas about health care. This debate allows members of all parties on all sides of the House to give us, collectively, ideas about how we should move forward into the future. This is an opportunity for a brainstorming session, so that all members can give us their ideas about the types of approaches that the government ought to take.
In speaking to my constituents and talking to Canadians as I travel right across Canada, I have learned that they are not particularly interested in hearing a partisan debate about health care. They are not particularly interested in seeing one level of government point a finger at another level of government or one side of the House point a finger at the other side of the House. They do not want to hear that. They do not want to see that. They want us as parliamentarians, as governments, to come up with the solutions to deal with the renewal of health care in the 21st century. That is what Canadians want and that is what this debate is about. That is why I am pleased to participate in it today.
I want to follow up on comments made by my hon. colleague in terms of talking about health care from a particular perspective. It comes as no surprise that as the Secretary of State for Rural Development my perspective deals with the realities of rural Canada. If we are going to be successful at renewing our health care system, and if we are going to develop something that will work in the 21st century, we need to ensure that we take into account the realities of rural Canada. That is something I am absolutely convinced of. When we develop a health care system we have to ensure that it is not an attempt at making one shoe fit all. Rather, we have to understand that we need a flexible system which would allow for the delivery of health care in a rural context in an effective way.
That is important. Besides the reality that 30% of Canadians live in rural Canada, there are some unique and particular realities about rural Canada and health care. First, if we take a look at the demographics, and this is important in terms of health care, generally speaking there is an older population in rural Canada. That puts a demand on our health care system to a greater extent in a rural context than in an urban context.
If we look at the issue of life expectancy, there is a lower life expectancy in our rural areas than in our urban areas. The mortality rate in our rural and remote areas of Canada, particularly the infant mortality rate, is almost twice as high as it is in our urban areas. These types of health care outcomes speak dramatically and specifically to the need to design a system that is particular to rural Canada and will deal with the issues in rural Canada. Another important issue is the number of physicians available to rural Canadians. There are about half as many physicians available for a population of 1,000 in a rural context than in an urban context.
These are health care outcomes that make it absolutely essential that as we reform the health care system we do it in a way that will meet the needs of rural Canadians and rural communities.
When looking at the types of initiatives that we ought to undertake in this renewal, there are some that I would like to put forward to my parliamentary colleagues and place on the record in respect of rural areas in Canada, initiatives that I think we should consider.
First is a principle that I believe it is absolutely essential to follow, that is, access to the health care system should be based on Canadian citizenship and not on where we choose to live. In other words, all of us, whether we live in rural and remote or urban Canada, should have access to a good and totally accessible health care system.
That is a principle that I believe we need to keep in mind as we reform the health care system in the 21st century. It is something that I firmly believe in and I believe rural Canadians across this land think that is an important principle we need to follow.
Second, is the whole issue of technology. I and my colleague beside me have often spoken about the need to ensure that our rural communities have access to high speed and broadband Internet access. It is not that we want to have quicker e-mails or more computers in rural communities. It is about ensuring that we have the technology so that our rural communities can have access to health care in a new and innovative way.
The opportunity to have a diagnosis done remotely is important. It provides the kind of access that rural Canadians need. This technology, which we want to assist through a public-private partnership being rolled out in rural Canada, will help in that respect in terms of treatments as well. It goes beyond just diagnostics. We can use the new technology to treat Canadians in rural remote areas in a way that we could not have even dreamed about when medicare was first brought into force in the 1960s. As a second principle, we need to look very closely and strongly at this and move to ensure that rural communities have access to the technology that will give them an opportunity to have full access to the health care system.
Third, it is important that when we train health care professionals, be they doctors, nurses or other health care professionals, we do it in a way that makes sense for rural Canada because the issues that a physician, for instance, may face in a rural context can be very different than those of an urban context. For instance, oftentimes, if one is practising in a rural area, one is expected to undertake a number of additional tasks that one may not have to do in an urban context where there is a far greater number of specialists that may be available.
What that means is that physicians who are intending to practise in a rural area need the training in a broad range of functions that they may have to undertake. That is why it is important, when we look at reforming the health care system and look at how we train our health care professionals, that we understand and recognize there may have to be a different rural curriculum than there is, a broader curriculum or at least an additional part of the curriculum that reflects the kinds of challenges that a physician or other health care professionals may face in a rural context. It is absolutely essential we do that. That would be a third issue that I would like to see put forward as we reform the health care system.
Fourth, is the whole issue of health research. Many of the health related issues that are faced by rural Canadians are a bit different or can be somewhat different than those faced by the general population. It is absolutely essential, as our Institutes of Health Research undertake their work, that they apply what I like to refer to as a rural lens to ensure that it is undertaking that research in a way and on issues that have an impact directly on the lives and on the health of rural Canadians. As a fourth issue, we have to take a very close look, when we do health research, to ensure that we do it in a way that will address the challenges and address those issues that rural Canadians face.
My fifth point is particularly important. It has to do with the recruitment of health care professionals. Most of us who come from rural communities have faced, and our communities have faced, the challenge of attracting health care professionals to those communities, whether it is doctors, nurses or technicians. That is a key issue. We need to undertake some steps that will help to alleviate that. In many respects the provinces will need to undertake some of that activity.
Being a fellow member of Parliament from northern Ontario, Mr. Speaker, you will be familiar with this. One of the innovative things that we have been able to do through FedNor is to help with a study that is leading to the establishment of a northern Ontario medical school. What that means is that we will be able to train our health care professionals in northern Ontario. What the evidence has demonstrated to us is that where people train is where they tend to practise. This is a major step forward in terms of ensuring that we have health care professionals in a rural area, in a northern area.
In closing, let me just say I am pleased that we have the opportunity to have this debate and that all members have an opportunity to help chart the course for the reform of health care. I would very much want to ensure that we undertake those issues that affect rural Canada in a way that makes sense to rural Canadians and to the communities of rural Canada.