Fixing Canada: Why money alone won’t solve the health-care crisis

You’ve probably heard — from politicians, experts or even just friends and family — that “Canada is broken.” Everyone can draw their own conclusions about that, but there’s no denying some key aspects of the country aren’t working well for many of us. And complaining about that is easy, it’s fixing it that’s the tough part. This week, The Big Story is trying to do that with Fixing Canada — a five-part series featuring deep dives into five issues that touch every Canadian, looking to experts to diagnose the problem — but most importantly, to prescribe the cure.

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Related:

• Fixing Canada: The competition
• Fixing Canada: How do we create world-class transit?
• Fixing Canada: How to create a more just immigration system?

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In today’s The Big Story podcast, for part four of our series, we’re talking about health care. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have heard constantly about our crumbling system. But the cracks didn’t just start four years ago.  

Many health care workers have said the system may soon be pushed past the point of repair – or already has been. 

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is a former president of the Canadian Medical Association, and the first Indigenous doctor listed in Medical Post’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors. “The issues that each province and territory has is not so unique that we need our own unique plans and approaches to them. That is a myth that we continue to tell Canadians, and it lies at the root for not solving a lot of the big problems that we have,” said Dr. Lafontaine. 

So, can we spend our way out of this? Or do we need to reimagine the entire thing?

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify. You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.