Health Care and Federalism

In this episode, our series on federalism turns to one of the most contentious issues in Canada these days: healthcare.

We go back to first principles to understand how federalism influences the way we approach healthcare in Canada. We also ask what makes an effective healthcare system? And how does federalism complicate or help that dynamic? What are the different roles of each level of government and the stakeholders they interact with? And how do they work or don’t?

Our expert guests are Katherine Fierlbeck, McCullough Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University, and Chaim Bell, Physician-in-Chief at Sinai Health and Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.

This episode was recorded during an online event held by the Canada School of Public Service and is the sixth and final installment of a partnership between the school and the IRPP’s Centre for Excellence.

Policy Options Podcast · PO Podcast 160 - Health Care and Federalism

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Charles Breton

Charles Breton is the executive director of the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation at the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) and the former research director at Vox Pop Labs. He holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia. Follow him on Twitter: @charlesbreton

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Katherine Fierlbeck

Katherine Fierlbeck is McCulloch Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University. She holds cross-appointments with the Departments of Community Health and Epidemiology, European Studies, and International Development Studies; and is a Fellow at the European Union Centre of Excellence. Katherine has published six books to date; the most recent are Comparative Health Care Federalism: Competition and Collaboration in Multistate Systems (ed. with H. Palley), Ashgate Press, 2015; Health Care Federalism in Canada: Critical Junctures and Critical Perspectives (ed. with Bill Lahey), McGill-Queens University Press, 2013; and Health Care in Canada: A Citizen's Guide to Politics and Policies, University of Toronto Press, 2011. She is currently working on a Health System Profile book on Nova Scotia for the McGill-Queen University Press Book Series on Provincial-Territorial Health Systems.

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