Kevin Lamoureux
Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North
I would like to invite you to a Public Meeting to talk about Canada’s Healthcare System and how we all need to work together and make sure our system will be there for future generations. (no costs to attend) Saturday, April 29 3:00pm sharp to about 5:15 Philippine Centre 737 Keewatin Street The following is a story that I wrote and was published in the Winnipeg Free Press community news section on March 15, 2023: Health care is, in many ways, a core part of what it means to be Canadian. To receive essential health-care services, the only thing Canadians should require is a health card, not a credit card. That is why I will always advocate that no matter where you live or what you earn, you will always be able to get the medical care you need. The Government of Canada distributes billions of dollars to the provinces and territories every year and in return they have to respect the Canada Health Act. The federal government recently committed an additional $198.6 billion dollars in new additional federal funding for health care over the next 10 years. The health-care system we have today needs to improve and we need to make sure that a quality system, based on the fundamental principles of the Canada Health Act, is there for future generations of Canadians. The federal government needs to work with and support provincial governments in making sure that there is more transparency and accountability in the delivery of health-care services. Better understanding our health-care system and making sure real people have input into the system is very important to me and my daughter, Cindy, the provincial MLA for Tyndall Park, so we have decided to host a public meeting on Saturday, April 29 at the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba (737 Keewatin St.). This will be an open meeting and we would encourage you to attend. Issues such as mental health, wait times, access to health-care workers, long-term care and more accountability are the issues we will be talking about. Earlier this month I accompanied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a visit to the Grace hospital where we heard from nurses, doctors, support staff and administrators. The Prime Minister wants MPs to bring to Ottawa what our constituents are telling us and I plan on doing just that. Whether through public meetings, private discussions, smaller meetings or petitions, I intend to be vocal on the health-care file. We need to talk about things like access to family doctors and nurse practitioners; how we can reduce backlogs; mental-health care and substance-use supports; and we need to ensure our health information is available to you and your health providers. Hundreds of millions of new dollars every year will be coming from Ottawa to Manitoba, and we must make sure that we see real improvements to our health-care services. I would encourage you to share your opinions with me at the town hall. If you have any questions email me at connect@mpkevin.ca