Health
A vote for the Green Party is a vote for a healthy Canada.
Public health
The Green Party is committed to a fully public health care system.
We fully support the Canada Health Act and all of its principles. We oppose any level of privatized, for-profit health care. The five criteria of the CHA guiding the provincial public health insurance plans, which we believe to be non-negotiable, are:
- Public Administration: The public health insurance plan must be managed in a public, not-for-profit fashion.
- Comprehensiveness: All residents must be covered for “medically necessary” health services.
- Universality: All residents must be covered by the public insurance plan on uniform terms and conditions.
- Portability: All residents must be covered by their public plan, wherever they are treated in Canada.
- Accessibility: All residents must have access to insured health care services on uniform terms and conditions without direct or indirect financial charges, or discrimination based on age, health status or financial circumstances.
More doctors
Canada does not have enough doctors and other health care providers. We have fewer doctors relative to our population than many developing countries like Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria and Cuba. In addition, the doctors we have are not well distributed so in some areas, over half the population lacks access to doctors. We need to train more health professionals and ensure better allocation.
Health promotion
To protect our public health care system from the threat of rapidly rising health care costs, we need to invest in prevention and health promotion to bring health care costs down.
The Green Party has a comprehensive and integrated plan to improve the health of Canadians. This involves investment in safe and nutritious food, exercise and workplace health promotion. It involves enshrining the right to clean air and water into our Constitution and then protecting that right with strict standards and consequences for polluters. It involves making a comprehensive survey of carcinogens and toxins, regulating the worst out of existence and reducing the use of others through regulatory or price mechanisms.
See the full Green Party of Canada policy on health promotion here.
