Dear Canadian Cancer Survivors Network,
Thank you for your work and for your recent email. You won’t be surprised to learn that my life like almost everyone was touched by cancer. In my late teens I lost my father to lung cancer and just 10 years ago I lost my “little sister” Eve ( she was just a year younger than myself).
I truly wish we took on this disease as a society with the urgency and commitment it deserves. Government should and must lead.
I hold a vision of an integrated health care system that builds upon social determinants of health. I would claim no expertise on this except that I have been known as a good listener. I know that common sense is often more difficult than it should be to implement in our healthcare system.
I believe that every individual, regardless of who they are, should have what they need when they need it in order to be as healthy as they can be. That’s it. That’s my goal.
Can it be done? I believe so. Your voices are crucial to ensure the will exists for real change in how we do things. Your voices of lived experience connect with all of us.
I can tell you the NDP will immediately rebuild Ontario cancer care for the better, starting with:
Immediately making take-home cancer drugs free
Providing cancer treatment closer to home
Ensuring that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test can be billed to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan.
The NDP will also build a full dedicated cancer centre in Brampton to address Ontario’s growing number of cancer cases.
All the best,