Health care's taking a backseat in this election. That's a missed opportunity, expert says

Health policy scholar Colleen Flood says Canadian voters should put party leaders’ 'feet to the fire'

Jennifer Warren · CBC Radio · Posted: Apr 12, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: April 14

Colleen Flood is the dean of law at Queen's University and was previously the founding director of the University of Ottawa's Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. (Matthew Brougham)

In this federal election period, the twists and turns of tariffs, annexation threats and other surprises from the Trump administration have stolen focus from addressing the state of public health care in Canada. A leading expert on health law and policy experts says that's a shame.

"We are in an emergency situation in Canadian health care, and we have been for a couple of years post pandemic," said Colleen Flood, who is also dean of law at Queen's University.

An estimated 6.5 million Canadians don't have access to a family doctor and one-third of those who do find it difficult to get an appointment. Patients waited 222 per cent longer to see a specialist in 2024 than they did in 1993, ranking Canada the worst in wait times of all high-income universal healthcare countries. 

Across the country, more Canadians are paying out of pocket for health care that the Canada Health Act says should be available to them in the public system. Virtual private-pay family medicine is readily available, and most provinces and territories now have in-person clinics as well.

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