Nursing leaders share solutions with parliamentarians

Neil Valois

CNA leaders descended on Parliament Hill on Nov. 27 to convince over 40 MPs and senators that taking action on CNA’s recent National Expert Commission report can improve Canadians’ health.

The day of meetings was part of our ongoing advocacy and policy work to improve health and keep people well.

During CNA’s Parliament Hill Day, more than 30 nurse leaders — including members of CNA’s board of directors — spoke to parliamentarians about ways to improve the nation’s health and the importance of sustaining Canada’s publicly funded, not-for-profit health-care system. Two of the Commission’s action items were particularly influential throughout the day.

We asked MPs and senators to commit to achieving a top-five global ranking on five priority health and systems performance goals in the next five years. “What gets measured gets managed,” president Barb Mildon said. “As one of the top spenders in the world on health, we need to rank among the best for key indicators, including infant mortality and diabetes rates, but we don’t.”

Secondly, CNA’s leadership urged MPs and senators to bring health into all policies by applying an equity-based health impact assessment to evaluate the health benefit and consequences of all future decisions. Results from a nationwide Nanos Research poll, conducted for CNA prior to Hill Day, show Canadians agree: 93% said they think any public policy should consider the positive and negative impacts on people’s health.

Participants were enthusiastic about the day, noting it provided great opportunities to bring nursing solutions and perspectives to the attention of parliamentarians.