Health top concern to Canadians but politicians ignoring issue, poll shows

A new Ekos poll says most Canadians view health as a top priority. But researchers say party leaders are giving it short shrift in the federal election.

Thestar.com
Oct. 9, 2015
By Donovan Vincent

A new public opinion poll by Ekos shows that health is the most important issue to Canadians - but researchers involved in the survey say that isn’t reflected in the attention party leaders in the federal election are devoting to it.

“Our poll results clearly show that any politician brave enough to campaign on health right now would be campaigning on clearly the most important issue to Canadians. Lamentably, none of the political parties have done this,” Amir Attaran, a professor with the faculty of medicine and the faculty of law at the University of Ottawa, said in an interview.

Funding for the Sept. 14-22 poll came from Attaran’s academic research budget at Ottawa U, and he devised the survey questions with input from his academic colleagues at the university, the Canadian Public Health Association, Canadian Doctors for Medicare, and Ekos.

“Simply put, the stuff that politicians talk about during an election is exactly the opposite of what Canadians prioritize for themselves. You could say that syringes matter more than Syria,” says Attaran, referring to the Syrian refugees and the bombing of ISIS militants’ targets in Iraq and Syria.

A Star series on important issues that are getting short shrift in the federal election recently highlighted health-care related matters such as seniors’ care, physician-assisted suicide, and prescription drug coverage.

One of the questions in the Ekos survey asked respondents how, if they were prime minister for a day, they would spend $1 billion over the next 10 years.

Five of the health-related answers were among the top 10 choices for respondents, including the top ranked answer - investments in improving public health. This choice won out against all of the other 19 choices 68 per cent of the time, the Ekos survey found.

Other top 10 answers included improving health care, improving end-of-life care, improving access to mental health services, and creating a new universal home-care program.

Combating terrorist threats such as ISIS, and purchasing military hardware ranked among the two least popular choices respectively, in the poll.

The 2,011 participants in the poll were given 20 choices, six of them relating to health. Included on the list of choices was child care, workplace training, and “across the board tax cuts.”

Respondents had to choose how to invest the $1 billion in initiatives aimed at “the public’s best interest.’’

The margin of error for the statistically weighted national survey is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Responding to claims the federal leaders are ignoring health issues in the election campaign, Conservative campaign spokesperson Stephen Lecce said the topic remains an ongoing priority for the party.

“A strong economy allows government to keep taxes low and increasingly invest in important social programs like health care. That is why since 2006, our Conservative government has significantly increased health transfers to the provinces by almost 70 per cent to improve quality of life of all Canadians,” he said

NDP campaign adviser Brad Lavigne said health care has been the number one issue the party has dedicated itself to during the election campaign. He pointed out the party devoted a health-care week during the campaign to highlight areas that “desperately need improvement after 10 years of Stephen Harper, including access to more doctors, lower prescription drug costs, and mental health.”

Jane Philpott, a physician and Liberal candidate running in Markham-Stouffville, said her party has the “strongest” position on health.

“The strongest part of the health care part of our platform is the fact we are committed to negotiating a new health accord,’’ she said, adding the Liberals will hold a first ministers meeting in the first 100 days of forming government, and negotiating a new health accord will be a priority for working with the provinces, she said.

The Ekos poll found that overall, 55 per cent of respondents believe public health care in Canada has worsened since 2006 when Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s government took over. Twenty-five per cent said the quality has stayed the same, 17 per cent said improved and 3 per cent don’t know

That view that health care has worsened under the Tories is held by 9 per cent of Conservative respondents, 74 per cent of Liberals, 76 per cent of NDP supporters, 63 per cent of Greens and 59 per cent of Bloc supporters.

When asked about the seriousness of particular issues facing health care, 79 per cent of respondents said increasing demand on the system from Canada’s aging population is a serious problem (13 per cent said it’s moderately serious and 7 per cent said not very serious), and 71 per cent said insufficient health-care professionals such as doctors and nurses is a serious problem (17 per cent said it’s moderately serious, and 11 per cent said not very serious).

“It’s not that surprising that we find concerns dominated by the fact Canada is becoming a lot older. We’re aging at a fairly rapid clip and obviously this has huge implications for health care."

There are lot more older people taking a lot of resources,” said Frank Graves, president of Ekos.

Graves points out that according to past Ekos polls dating back to 1998, topics related to health care have remained at the top of the general public’s concerns, trending atop environmental issues, unemployment, taxation, and government debt.