From the Fraser Institute

By John Ibbitson

Although rubber has yet to meet road, Prime Minister Mark Carney is vowing to reverse many of the policy failures of previous administrations. His government plans to greatly increase defence spending, streamline the infrastructure approval process, and reduce provincial non-tariff barriers.

But while the government is right to focus on these measures, which aim to counter President Donald Trump’s tariff and annexationist threats, it’s easy to forget that Canada faced serious challenges long before The Donald arrived in the White House for his first term, let alone for his second.

First among these challenges is the crisis in health care. Six-and-a-half million Canadians lack a family doctor. Emergency room wait times can stretch on hour after hour. Prince Edward Island is the worst, with a median wait time of almost three hours before a patient first sees a physician. People in Ontario often have to wait months for an MRI scan. Some people travel to Buffalo where clinics offer to provide the service in a matter of days.

The median wait time between referral by a family doctor to treatment by a specialist in 2024 reached 30 weeks, the longest gap ever and more than three times the median wait in 1993, according to a study published by the Fraser Institute. In category after category, provincial health-care systems struggle to meet the standards they set for themselves.

If Carney really wanted to be remembered as a transformative prime minister, he would tackle this crisis by loosening the restrictions of the Canada Health Act.

The Act, and other laws and regulations banning user fees and extra billing, effectively prohibit provincial governments from permitting private health insurance to supplement public insurance for essential services. This has prevented the provinces from developing the sorts of private-sector safety valves used in developed countries around the world that also have universal health-care systems.

For instance, another report shows that Swiss citizens are able to choose among dozens of competing private-sector insurance plans that allow access to medically essential and publicly funded services. While there are copayments, public programs help lower-income patients to offset the costs.

In Australia, citizens are required to obtain private health insurance to supplement public coverage. That insurance, according to a federal government website, permits patients to receive “treatment in public or private hospitals as a private patient with the doctor of your choice” along with “health services that are not covered under Medicare such as physiotherapy, dental and optical.” Citizens who don’t obtain private insurance must pay a hefty Medicare Levy Surcharge of up to 1.5 per cent of taxable income. There are programs to offset the surcharge for low-income citizens.

In the Netherlands, to offer just one more example, the federal government also pays private health insurers to provide basic care, while allowing citizens who wish to pay for supplemental insurance.

Canadians pay a high price for the lack of private-sector insurance. According to the annual report comparing universal health-care countries published by the Fraser Institute, in 2023, 65.2 per cent of Canadians polled reported waiting more than one month for an appointment with a specialist compared to 51.9 per cent in Australia, 36.3 per cent in Switzerland and 35.7 per cent in the Netherlands.

The Commonwealth Fund, an U.S. non-profit health-care think-tank, ranked Canada seventh, in a study of how well 10 developed countries delivered health care. Australia ranked first.

A 2024 study ranked countries by how well they delivered various services. In that survey, the Netherlands came in 18th in the category of physicians per capita. Australia ranked seventh. Switzerland ranked sixth. Canada ranked 28th.

And yet, it terms of health-care spending as a share of GDP, Canada ranked fourth, Australia ninth and the Netherlands 13th. Switzerland came in at number two.

There is, in other words, little correlation between spending on health care and the health of the system. There is, however, strong evidence that countries offering universal public care—supplemented by private-sector alternatives—do better than Canada.

Mark Carney could go down in history as the prime minister who rescued Canada’s health-care system. Loosening the restrictions of the Canada Health Act to permit supplemental private plans for essential care in provinces that choose to adopt them, and reforming other troubling aspects of the Act, would set the stage for real innovation, experimentation and reform by the provinces.

Based on the evidence of jurisdictions from Sweden to Singapore, the first provinces to open the door to private insurance and related reforms would quickly see improvements in wait times and other metrics. Other provinces would likely soon follow.

John Ibbitson

MxM News

Quick Hit:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Saturday that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in flu shots, is now banned in the U.S. The move caps a 20-year fight, with Kennedy accusing health agencies of ignoring overwhelming evidence of harm.

Key Details:

• Kennedy confirmed the ban in a video message, declaring he was “proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise” to eliminate mercury exposure from vaccines.
• Thimerosal, which contains ethylmercury, has long been used in multi-dose flu shots despite research identifying it as a neurotoxin, carcinogen, mutagen, and reproductive toxicant.
• The updated CDC recommendation, approved in June and enacted last week, prohibits thimerosal in all U.S. vaccines. Mercury-free, single-dose flu shots will remain available.

After more than 20 years of delay, I’m proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise: protecting our most vulnerable from unnecessary mercury exposure. pic.twitter.com/rYF5BN8JYj

— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) August 2, 2025

Diving Deeper:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Saturday announced the complete removal of thimerosal from all vaccines in the United States, marking the culmination of a 20-year campaign to eliminate mercury from the nation’s vaccine supply.

In a video message shared to X, Kennedy declared, “I’m proud to finally deliver on a long-overdue promise: protecting our most vulnerable from unnecessary mercury exposure.” The compound, which contains ethylmercury, had been used for decades in multi-dose vaccine vials as a preservative.

According to Kennedy, the CDC continued to allow thimerosal in flu shots administered to pregnant women and children, even after research repeatedly identified it as a dangerous neurotoxin. “The amount of ethylmercury in the flu shot that CDC just banned under my order is 25,000 times the EPA’s safety level for drinking water,” he said.

He pointed to a 2001 congressional hearing where FDA official William Egan admitted under oath that thimerosal’s safety had never been studied in humans. Kennedy also cited a later study showing the compound can remain in the brain for nearly three decades.

Several peer-reviewed studies were referenced in Kennedy’s remarks. A 2017 CDC-funded study found a 7.7-fold increase in miscarriages among women who received the flu shot during pregnancy. That same year, JAMA published research showing a heightened risk of autism spectrum disorders among children whose mothers had received the shot during the first trimester.

“Why were we injecting this toxin into babies and pregnant women?” Kennedy asked. “Federal and state laws classify expired thimerosal vaccines as hazardous waste. Yet they were good enough to put into your bloodstream?”

Despite being targeted for years as an “anti-vaxxer” by pharmaceutical companies and legacy media outlets, Kennedy never relented. “I’ve spent 20 years trying to get mercury out of vaccines,” he said. “I spent four years trying to get mercury out of fish, and nobody called me anti-fish.”

The CDC formally adopted the new recommendation last week after approval in June. Flu vaccines will remain available in mercury-free, single-dose forms, and manufacturers have confirmed their ability to meet demand without the use of thimerosal.

Kennedy framed the decision as part of a broader effort to reform public health institutions and praised President Trump for his role in “remaking FDA and CDC” into agencies that prioritize public safety over industry pressure.

He also extended his call to international health organizations, urging an end to the use of mercury-based preservatives in vaccines distributed to children in developing nations. “We urge the World Health Organization and GAVI to stop their programs of injecting mercury into more than 100 million Black and brown babies in developing countries annually,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy cast the moment as a pivotal step toward medical transparency and accountability. “This decision sends a clear message,” he concluded. “The days of ignoring the science are over. The days of putting profits ahead of people are over.”