Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
  • Listen to CMAJ podcasts
News

Federal election wrap: medical profession to be sparsely represented in House of Commons

Wayne Kondro
CMAJ November 18, 2008 179 (11) 1114-1115; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.081688
Wayne Kondro
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
  • © 2008 Canadian Medical Association

If economics truly is “the dismal science,” then voters might well be tempted to conclude that politics is the dismal art.

As Canadians trekked to the polls on Oct. 14 to make their choices in the 40th general election, pollsters warned that all those voters seemed singularly unimpressed with their options — party leaders were largely uninspiring; campaigns lacklustre and strategies mediocre, if not incoherent. All parties seemed resolutely determined to avoid issues like health care. In fact, it barely made a ripple in the political pond throughout the 5-week campaign despite being consistently rated as a major public concern.

Small wonder, then, that many eligible voters did not make the trek, resulting in a historic low turnout of 59% as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the governing Conservatives garnered 143 seats and earned their second consecutive minority. The Liberals plummeted to 76. The Bloc Quebecois held at 50, while the New Democrats rose to 37. The Green Party was shut out, while 2 independents were elected.

Figure
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint

Re-elected Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives at the Canada Reception Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, a day after his Conservatives captured their second consecutive minority. Image by: Reuters / Blair Gable

Within that mix lies another harsh reality: the medical community will continue to be sparsely represented within Parliament.

There were 4 physicians in the House of Commons when it was dissolved. There will be 4 in the new Parliament — in fact, the same 4 stalwarts as in the previous one. All are Liberals and all are general practitioners:

  • Dr. Carolyn Bennett (St. Paul's)

  • Dr. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre)

  • Dr. Keith Martin (Esquimalt Juan De Fuca)

  • Dr. Bernard Patry (Pierrefonds Dollard).

It will be Bennett's fifth term in the House, while Martin, Fry and Patry have now successfully run 6 times.

Eleven other physicians who sought office saw their political aspirations scuttled:

  • Dr. Pierre Gfeller, general practitioner, Liberal (Laurentides-Labelle)

  • Dr. Qais Ghanem, neurophysiologist, Green Party (Ottawa South)

  • Dr. Sean Godfrey, pediatrician, Liberal (Oshawa)

  • Dr. Gordon Guyatt, professor, McMaster University Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, New Democrat (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale)

  • Dr. Eric Hoskins, general medicine/ epidemiology, War Child Canada president, youngest ever recipient of United Nations Association in Canada's Lester B. Pearson Peace medal, Liberal (Haldimand-Norfolk)

  • Dr. Benson Lau, family physician, Conservative (Scarborough Agincourt)

  • Dr. Robert O'Connor, family physician, Green Party (Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor)

  • Dr. André Sylvestre, family physician, Green Party (Pontiac)

  • Dr. Lionel Traverse, pediatrician, Liberal (Abbotsford)

  • Dr. Georgina Wilcock, chief of the Scarborough Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Green Party (Don Valley West)

  • Dr. Martha Jo Willard, pathologist, Liberal (Brandon-Souris)

Faring even less favorably than physicians were nurses. Of 22 candidates with a nursing background, just one, Conservative Cathy McLeod (Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo), the former mayor of Pemberton, British Columbia, prevailed.

As health professionals, physicians and nurses will lag well behind lawyers (50) in Parliamentary representation. They also trailed political aides (32), teachers (17), farmers (16), journalists (7) and restauranteurs (5) but matched policeman (4) and chiropractors (4).

The 4 chiropractors all served in the past Parliament:

  • Colin Carrie, Conservative (Oshawa)

  • Ruby Dhalla, Liberal (Brampton-Springdale)

  • Gary Goodyear, Conservative (Cambridge)

  • James Lunney, Conservative (Nanaimo-Alberni)

Dentist, Christian missionary and Conservative Harold Albrecht (Kitchener-Conestoga) was the only other health professional elected to Parliament.

But several other Members of Parliament do have at least a measure of experience in dealing with health issues. Re-elected were: Conservative Diane Finley (Haldimand-Norfolk), who helped establish the private ambulance services company Canadian Medical Response; New Democrat Peter Julian (Burnaby-New Westminster), executive director of the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; New Democrat Brian Masse (Windsor West), a long-time activist for the disabled; and Bloc Quebecois Jean-Yves Laforest (Saint Maurice-Champlain), former psychomotor rehabilitation specialist at the Trois-Rivières Regional General Hospital.

Among newcomers to the House with a measure of health-related experience are: Liberal Kirsty Duncan (Etobicoke North), associate professor of health studies at the University of Toronto; and New Democrat Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury), a former manager of residential programs for the handicapped.

Almost as sparse as health profession representation in the House of Commons were actual health policy commitments made on the hustings, particularly from Harper's Conservatives, who essentially took no stance on 10 health issues during a CMAJ election survey (CMAJ 2008;179[8]:757-8).

Among the few commitments made by the Conservatives were modest measures to address the shortage of doctors and nurses, including:

  • $10 million per year over 4 years to fund 50 new residency spots in teaching hospitals

  • A $5 million fund to attract Canadian physicians practising abroad to return to Canada. The Conservatives projected the fund would result in the repatriation of 300 physicians over 4 years

  • $5 million over 3 years to “develop recruitment and retention strategies for the nursing profession.”

Other Conservative commitments were extremely broad in nature. Harper's platform promises to “continue to take creative measures to tackle major lung, heart and neurological diseases.” The new government also vows to end discriminatory life insurance practices and crackdown on tobacco advertising in print and electronic media reached by children.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 179 (11)
CMAJ
Vol. 179, Issue 11
18 Nov 2008
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Federal election wrap: medical profession to be sparsely represented in House of Commons
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Federal election wrap: medical profession to be sparsely represented in House of Commons
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Nov 2008, 179 (11) 1114-1115; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.081688

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Federal election wrap: medical profession to be sparsely represented in House of Commons
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Nov 2008, 179 (11) 1114-1115; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.081688
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Highlights
  • Dans ce numéro
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Saying goodbye to CMAJ News
  • National survey highlights worsening primary care access
  • How Canadian hospitals are decreasing carbon emissions
Show more News

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Canadian government

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: [email protected]

CMA Civility, Accessibility, Privacy

 

Powered by HighWire