Good afternoon, Thank you for your welcome and the opportunity to speak to you today.


I would like to thank Club President Arlette Utton and Joe Tascona for his kind introduction.

I am a great admirer of Rotary. In all its avenues of services: whether it is humanitarian efforts in the local community or the advancement of good will and peace on the world stage. Take this last past weekend at Kempenfest as an example. Many of you could have been at your cottage but you rather donated your time to help out at Barrie’s annual Kempenfest festival.

In my address this afternoon, I wanted to speak to you about the on going efforts of Canada’s government to strengthen our health care system and our local initiatives for strengthen the health of our citizens.

Canadian value their publicly-funded, universally – accessible health care system.

Canada has one of the best systems in the world, but it is not perfect. Too many people lack a family doctor. Emergency rooms are too often jammed and wait times for treatment doubled in the 1990s.

This shows that improvements are detrimental to enhance our health care system.  Our government recognizes this and has made significant changes.


The government has:

• 
Signed Patient Wait Time Guarantee agreements with all provinces and territories
• Implemented a 10-Year $41.3 billion Federal/Provincial Plan to Strengthen Health Care
• Provided $612 million in new funding to help provinces reduce patient wait times
• Established the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer with $260 million in funding over five years to implement a national cancer strategy
• Provided $300 million to protect women from cancer of the cervix
• Increased funding for new training spaces to address the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals
• The Government of Canada has also invested $10 million in Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.


The Government of Canada is very concerned about the damage and pain that illicit drugs cause families and our communities. We take this issue seriously and are proud to partner with the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse to take action in discouraging youth from using illicit drugs and informing them of the harmful effects of illicit drug use.
The goal of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) project is to reduce illicit drug use among Canadian youth between the ages of 10 and 24, including high-risk youth, focusing on risk and protective factors before drug use begins. The project will initiate the development of national standards for drug prevention programs and will support families, schools, communities, and individuals across Canada with the tools and information they need when confronted with illicit drugs.



Our Government recognizes that illegal drugs destroy lives, rob young people of their futures and endanger our communities. This is why we are firmly determined to help people overcome addictions, prevent others from falling prey to this terrible problem and crack down on those who profit from this suffering through the production and sale of drugs.
Further to this the Government of Canada continues to challenge industry on management of chemicals. In February The Hon. Tony Clement, Minister of Health, and the Honorable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, announced further action under the Chemicals Management Plan. The plan will accelerate risk assessment and subsequent management actions for priority chemicals.



It shows the government is taking the issue of harmful chemicals very seriously because we understand that there are some chemicals out there that are inherently dangerous and can remain so for a long time.

Other initiatives announced by the Government of Canada since 2006 include:

• 
Introducing Canada’s first Children’s Fitness Tax Credit, as well as re-launching the Canada Food Guide, and helping to bring back ParticipACTION’s healthy living public awareness campaign;

• Launching the first-ever Food Guide for First Nations, Inuit and Métis, as well as investing in initiatives to improve the health and promote the healthy development of children in First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities;

• Invested in the Canadian MedicAlert Foundation’s No Child Without Program;
Announcing a wait times guarantee pilot projects for children, in partnership with children’s hospitals across Canada;

• Launching a marketing campaign to reduce the number of children who are exposed to second-hand smoke (as launching a national public awareness campaign on healthy pregnancies;

• Investing in research and programs that will improve access to health care for children struggling with mental health disorders, as well as launching Canada’s first Mental Health Commission; )

Last year I was honored to announce, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, federal funds for the Simcoe – Muskoka District Health Unit. They are implementing an awareness campaign aimed at helping Barrie’s youth understand the health hazards of smoking.



This is why the government has committed over 4 –hundred thousand dollars in the local health unit’s efforts to promote the risk taken by those who smoke and those who supply tobacco to youth.

Our government has also launched a landmark cancer study entitled The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project. The pan-Canadian study, the largest of its kind in Canada and first of its kind in the world, will explore how genetics, environment, lifestyle and behavior contribute to the development of cancer.



The aim of The Canadian Partnership for Tomorrow Project is to help researchers, policy-makers and others understand how different combinations of risk factors lead to cancer. The study, led by the federally-funded Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, will track 300,000 randomly selected Canadians aged 35 to 69 for at least the next 20 to 30 years, gathering information on health and lifestyle through surveys and the collection of blood and other specimens.



The Government of Canada established the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer in November 2006 to implement the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control - a plan developed by more than 700 cancer experts and survivors on how best to control cancer in Canada.



Our government has a clear and comprehensive 10 Year Plan to Strengthen Healthcare.  Under our government’s plan transfers for healthcare were raised by 6 percent last year and another 6 percent this year.  That means more money to build more hospitals, hire more doctors and purchase new equipment.  It’s a serious investment from a government serious about fixing healthcare.  And it’s just a start.  We’re on track to add an additional $41 billion over the next 10 years to the system.

It is incredible how much hospitals in this country do with limited resources.  Just look at Royal Victoria Hospital an example of a hospital which is rich with success due to volunteers and charitable hearts.

We are also committed to working with the provinces to develop a Patient Wait Times Guarantee so that all Canadians will receive medically necessary treatment within clinically acceptable wait times.

The Patient Wait Times Guarantee will let you know how soon you can expect to receive care.  It also brings a new level of healthcare accountability, guaranteeing that you will always receive timely medical treatment.  As part of this commitment our government has already invested some $5.5 billion to the Wait Times Reduction Transfer so that when you need care you won’t have to wait in line.

In Ontario, wait times have been reduced by 19.6% for cataract surgeries, 17.9% for hip replacements, 11.8% for knee replacements, 25% for angioplasty, 23% for MRI exams, and 13.6% for CT scans.



Many Barrie residents will be positively impacted by the governments patient wait times guarantee initiative. Since the introduction of the federal/provincial wait times strategy, RVH has become a success story.

For a local hospital this means:

• $3.14 million has been directed to help RVH patients in 2006/2007. This has had a dramatic impact for the Barrie community;
• An additional 606 surgeries will have been performed for cancer, cataract and joint replacement procedures at RVH; and
• With the addition of 1,880 additional MRI operating hours, RVH has been able to provide 24-hour coverage on weekdays, and extended hours on weekends, for this much needed procedure.

Indeed, our Government has made significant and measurable progress on many issues facing Canadians in a relatively short period of time.



This year I was proud to announce that with the work of members of the Physician Recruitment Committee and the Recruitment Co-ordinator, Christie Cadotte- Barrie was able to welcome 5 new family physicians who have decided to set up their practice in our community. This is a direct result of the recruitment efforts of this committee. The addition of these family physicians means that up to 7500 Barrie residents will soon have a doctor they can call their own.



Physician recruitment is one of the biggest issues facing Barrie, particularly the shortage of family doctors. Barrie is provincially designated as an under serviced area and a community cannot flourish without the safety net of a strong and vibrant health-care network.



Along with the Physician Recruitment Task Force I have been able to continue to award a Doctor Recruitment Scholarship for the second year in a row. To achieve this scholarship medical students are encouraged to participate in the Doctor Recruitment Scholarship Essay Contest. This year’s scholarships worth $12,000 in total. Students awarded this scholarship were Reta French, Trevor Champagne, and Kristina Lyte Medical. These students will now be able to achieve their degree and come back to under-serviced areas such as Barrie to practice.



Through community events and fundraising efforts we are able to continue to offer this scholarship. Through these scholarships we are able to help entice medical students back to Barrie.


I believe that when the community is involved it not only raises funds, but most importantly awareness.  Take the Hockey Night in Barrie Charity Hockey Game for instance, that is taking place today, this event allows the Barrie community to come together with the RVH to help out in a great cause. Tonight past NHL players, Parliamenentairians and special celebrity guests will play hockey to raise funds to build a new Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre. NHL’ers will include: Rick Nash, Brad Boyes, Bryan Little and Mike Gartner. They will be joined by Parliamentarians including Minister of Natural Resources, Gary Lunn and Minister of Health and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario, Tony Clement. Celebrities such as Sean Cullen from the Last Comic Standing, Andrew Scott and Chris Murphy from Canadian rock band Sloan and Mark Day from CBC’s  Hockeyville will also be lacing up in support of the cause.

Pop singer Lauren Cristoff will be performing songs from her debut album, Eddie Shack will be performing and figure skater Jennifer Robinson will be co-coaching with Minister Gary Lunn. I am thrilled to be able to combine my two passions—politics and hockey. Hockey in August may seem strange in other countries but in Canada hockey is part of our DNA all year round. This event combines the Canadian love for hockey with the tremendously important cause of raising funds to build a regional cancer centre in Barrie.
All proceeds are going to support the RVH in building their expansion. This larger facility in Barrie will bring new programs, 101 new beds, and a Simcoe- Muskoka  Regional Cancer Centre

I was a City Councillor for 5 years when I advocated for a municipal role in doctor recruitment and for the City to play a leadership financial role in supporting the expansion.

In my three years in federal parliament and as a member on the standing committee on healthcare I have made my focus strengthen our healthcare system. I am passionate about this issue and in the years to come I will continue to do everything I can as a public servant to support, and help the hospital, the doctors, and the healthcare workers in our region to provide the nest possible care and service to the residents of Barrie.