When you think about what makes us healthy, do you think of doctors, medicine, and hospitals? Or do you think of affordable housing, living wages, and quality child care?
Our health depends much more on the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age than on the medical care we receive. But for decades Canadian governments have devoted more and more of their budgets to medical care, leaving less money for the social supports that matter more to lifelong wellbeing. This unhealthy imbalance in government spending is a major obstacle in our quest to make Canada work more fairly for all generations. So we spoke with award-winning author and journalist André Picard about how curing our “sickness care system” will require greater investment in the building blocks of a healthy society.
“What's important for our health is not more doctors. It's more housing, and it's more daycare, and it's better welfare payments. It's dealing with the toxic drug crisis. These are things that ultimately will make the health of our nation better. Not just more sickness care.”
- André Picard
André Picard has been writing about health for The Globe & Mail since 1987 and was appointed to the Order of Canada last year for his dedication to public health journalism.
Dig Deeper
Get Well Canada, our alliance pushing Canadian governments to rebalance how they invest in wellbeing
"Canada must rethink health spending strategy" by André Picard, The Globe & Mail
"Smart health-care policy must include affordable housing" by André Picard, The Globe & Mail
CBC Ideas: "We don't have a health-care crisis, it's an implementation crisis, says André Picard"
Watch our video about Past Policy Chickens
Curing Canada's "sickness care system"