We have to protect Medicare.

We also have to reform health care.

This is the clear message our caucus has been sending on the critical issue of health care.

We have made it clear we are putting health care front and centre. Not because it’s fundamentally broken. In many ways Medicare is a model health care system. Without leadership, we risk going back to the way things were. When people sold their farms or homes or suffered because they couldn't afford care.

Medicare is under constant threat from those who see sickness as an opportunity for profit. As privatization creeps forward, it hurts public health care by sapping its resources.

The federal government needs to stop privatization and start enforcing the Canada Health Act.

We also fundamentally need positive leadership to modernize the system. There is a growing mismatch between what Medicare covers and what people need.

We need to modernize Medicare for the 21st century. One burning priority is to adapt to Canada’s aging population. By 2026, the number of Canadian seniors will double to eight million.

We need to start building capacity in homecare and long-term care – now.

Expanding quality, affordable long-term care will ease that pressure on hospitals, cut waitlists, and give seniors their dignity.

Investing in homecare will do the same – and not only for seniors. It will reduce hospitalization, help people heal, and save the system money. We need to make homecare the first major expansion of public Medicare in 40 years.

Our next priority is to tackle runaway prescription drug costs.

Drugs are increasingly central to treatment. We spend more on drugs than on doctors. Drugs are the fastest growing part of health spending, far outpacing inflation.

It’s time for a national prescription drug strategy. It starts with catastrophic drug coverage for every Canadian. That strategy should include national bulk buying to ease costs. We need drug patent reform to get cheaper generic drugs onto shelves faster.

Third, Canada urgently needs a health human resources strategy.

Five million Canadians don't have a family doctor. That is why we have put forward practical ideas to work with provinces to train more doctors.

We also need to make a fundamental commitment to prevention through healthy living.

We need national leadership to ensure physical activity programs are stable and well resourced.

We also need leadership in areas like nutrition. We need to get nutritious food into schools across Canada.

We must recognize all the social determinants of health. That includes poverty, decent housing, the environment, education, and freedom from violence. This is particularly important to us in Northern Manitoba.

Saskatchewan brought in Medicare in the 1960s. Manitoba has had a Pharmacare and homecare program since the 1970s. It has been a leader in healthy living in recent years.

What Canada needs is a national strategy that builds on these successes. We need to defend Medicare and reform health for the 21st century.