Jane Philpott

The Honourable Doctor
Jane Philpott
PC MP
Minister of Health
Assumed office
November 4, 2015
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Preceded by Rona Ambrose
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Markham—Stouffville
Assumed office
October 19, 2015
Preceded by riding created
Personal details
Born Jane Little
(1960-11-23) November 23, 1960
Toronto, Ontario
Political party Liberal Party of Canada
Spouse(s) Pep Philpott[1]
Residence Stouffville, Ontario
Alma mater University of Western Ontario University of Toronto
University of Ottawa
Profession Physician
Religion Mennonite[2]

Jane Philpott, PC MP (born November 23, 1960) is a Canadian politician who represents the riding of Markham—Stouffville in the Canadian House of Commons and is the current Minister of Health. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Philpott was first elected in the 2015 federal election and was appointed to the Cabinet of the 29th Canadian Ministry, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015. Prior to entering politics she was a family physician known for promoting medical education in Africa, HIV/AIDS fundraising, refugee advocacy, and her work on the social determinants of health.

Early life and education

Philpott was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her childhood was spent in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Princeton, New Jersey; and Cambridge, Ontario. Her father, Rev. Wallace Little, was a Presbyterian minister.[3] Her mother was a schoolteacher. She is the oldest of four daughters.

Philpott attended high school at Galt Collegiate Institute.[4] She received her medical training at University of Western Ontario where she was granted a Doctor of Medicine degree, graduating cum laude, Faculty of Medicine in 1984.[5] She later earned her Masters of Public Health in Global Health Concentration in 2012 from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Philpott also completed a Tropical Medicine fellowship at Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Ontario in 1986-87.[6] From 1984-86 she earned her Family Medicine Residency in Family Medicine at the University of Ottawa/Ottawa Civic Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario.[7]

Medical career

Philpott was a family doctor in Markham-Stouffville from 1998 to 2015. She served as Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham-Stouffville Hospital from 2008 to 2014. She is an Associate Professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.[7] She was the Lead Physician of the Health For All Family Health Team in Markham, Ontario.[8] She worked in Niger in West Africa from 1989-1998 with a faith-based non-governmental organization, where she practiced general medicine and developed a training program for village health workers.[9] She returned to Niger in 2005 with Médecins sans Frontières during a food crisis.[6][10][11] She was the Family Medicine lead in the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration (TAAAC) from 2008 to 2014. In this capacity she helped colleagues at Addis Ababa University to develop the first training program for Family Medicine in Ethiopia that began in 2013.[12] The first seven students in this programme graduated in early 2016.[13] Philpott has been an advocate for Canada to give greater attention to the rights of refugees, particularly in respect of the health care afforded to them. In an article in the Toronto Star in 2014 she argued that "the Conservative government's cuts to refugee health care are 'cruel and unusual'".[14] Philpott is a co-curator of TEDxStouffville founded in 2012 with Dr. Eileen Nicolle. The TEDxStouffville committee, a collaboration between Health for All Family Health Team, Markham Stouffville Hospital, the University of Toronto and residents of the town of Whitchurch–Stouffville, develops its program with live speakers on the theme of Social Determinants of Health.[9][15][16][17]

HIV/AIDS advocacy work

"A Coin for Every Country" was an educational campaign geared to intermediate level classrooms to raise funds for the Stephen Lewis Foundation in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Philpott was a founder of this initiative, that was delivered through schools in the York Region District School Board.[18][19][20] Philpott is the founder of the "Give a Day to World AIDS" movement which started in 2004 as a way to engage Canadians in responding to HIV. Since 2004, Give a Day has grown in the medical, legal and business communities and, as of 2014, had raised over 4 million dollars to help those affected by HIV in Africa.[9][10][15][16][21][22][23][24]

Federal politics

Philpott was acclaimed as the federal Liberal Candidate in the new riding of Markham—Stouffville in April 2014.[25] During the 2015 Canadian federal election campaign she was frequently called upon by the party to be a spokesperson on the subject on the CBC programme Power & Politics.[26] She was critical of the Conservative government's lack of action and the returning of more than $350 million to the federal treasury in unspent funds over a three-year period, a sum that included millions for processing refugee applications and helping asylum-seekers settle into Canada.[27] Following the death of Alan Kurdi she joined Marc Garneau in calling for increased refugee settlement in Canada by the end of 2015.[28]

Philpott defeated the incumbent (from the redistributed riding of Oak Ridges—Markham), Paul Calandra. When asked by Campbell Clark of the Globe and Mail why she would move from medicine to Politics she quoted Rudolf Virchow, the noted German physician who had a less successful political career, to explain why she sees economics and environment as key to human health, and chose to run for office: “Politics is nothing but medicine writ large.”[15]

Minister of Health

Philpott was appointed Minister of Health in the Cabinet of the 29th Canadian Ministry, headed by Justin Trudeau, on November 4, 2015.[29] She is the first medical doctor to hold the post.[30] Philpott was also appointed to the following Cabinet Committees on November 4, 2015.

On November 9, 2015 she was appointed to chair a cabinet sub-committee to co-ordinate government efforts to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees in Canada through government sponsorship by the end of 2015.[33]

On May 1, 2016, after the new government had been in office for six months, David Akin, Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Toronto Sun, published a rating of the Liberal Cabinet's work to date in which Philpott was awarded an A+. "A real-life doctor before politics, Philpott has been a quick master of a high-profile file and is flawlessly executing against her mandate letter from the PM. She's confident talking to Canadians about health policy issues. And she's handled controversial files such legalizing marijuana and dealing with mental health crises on First Nations with pitch-perfect tone. An easy standout in Trudeau's cabinet." Alise Mills, a Vancouver-based conservative political analyst, further commented "Gracious, composed and knows her files."[34]

Issues addressed by Philpott in her first six months as Minister of Health include: Syrian refugees;[33] Bill C-14 on Physician Assisted Dying;[35] removal of cuts to refugee health plans made by the previous government;[36] Safe Injection Sites;[37] renegotiation of the Canada Health Accord with the provinces;[38] establishment of a pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance;[39] indigenous health care issues, in particular mental health, including high rates of suicide[40] and violence in La Loche, Saskatchewan[41] and the Attawapiskat First Nation;[42] the Zika virus outbreak;[43] and the legalisation of marijuana where she announced the government's plans at the United Nations on April 20th, 2016.[44][45]

On May 11, 2016 Philpott was appointed to the "Ad Hoc Committee on Northern Alberta Wildfires", a new ad hoc Cabinet committee to coordinate federal efforts to help the thousands of Canadians affected by the wildfires that raged through Northern Alberta in May 2016.[46]

During the week of May 22–28, 2016 she chaired the annual Commonwealth Health Ministers meeting in Geneva, Switzerland[47] and also led the Canadian delegation at the 69th World Health Assembly (WHA).[48]

On 18 August 2016, it was reported that Philpott had been using the services of Executive Sedan Livery Service Inc., a company owned by a Liberal party campaign volunteer in her riding, at approximately double the market rate, including a single day's services that cost nearly $2000.[49] When made aware of the costs, Philpott agreed that they were excessive, apologized and agreed to repay them.[50] On 22 August 2016, it was also reported that Philpott had billed taxpayers $520 for a year's membership to Air Canada's executive airport lounge in North America and Europe. She agreed to repay that amount and requested a full review of her expenses. [51]

Personal life

Philpott lives in Stouffville, Ontario. Her husband is Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio journalist, Pep Philpott.[10] They have four children including Bethany who attends McMaster University Medical School.[52] Jane attends the Community Mennonite Church in Stouffville, Ontario where she is a song leader for the congregation.[53][54][55]

Awards and honours

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Markham—Stouffville
Party Candidate Votes%∆%Expenditures
LiberalJane Philpott 29,416 49.2% +20.2 –
ConservativePaul Calandra 25,565 42.8% -7.6 –
New DemocraticGregory Hines 3,647 6.1% -10.9 –
GreenMyles O'Brien 1,145 1.9% -0.8 –
Total valid votes/Expense limit 59,773100.0   $225,802.37
Total rejected ballots 189
Turnout 59,96268.6%
Eligible voters 87,460
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +13.9%
Source: Elections Canada[65][66]
2011 federal election redistributed results[67]
Party Vote %
  Conservative 23,820 50.49
  Liberal 13,662 28.96
  New Democratic 8,010 16.98
  Green 1,284 2.72
  Others 406 0.86

References

  1. ↑ "Give A Day Founder – Dr. Jane Philpott". Give A Day. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Your Candidate for Markham-Stouffville". Liberal Party of Canada. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "Wallace Little fonds". The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
  4. 1 2 "Alumni honoured in school halls of fame". Cambridge Times.
  5. ↑ "Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry". Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  6. 1 2 "DFCM Global Health Program Faculty, Staff & Collaborators". University of Toronto.
  7. 1 2 "Ontario Multicultural Health Applied Research Network - Biography Page for Dr. Jane Philpott".
  8. ↑ "CBC Radio listeners learn about FHTs from Dr. Jane Philpott". Association of Family Health Teams of Ontario.
  9. 1 2 3 "The Honourable Jane Philpott MP". Government of Canada. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 "Would you give a day's pay to save a life? - Interview with Dr. Philpott". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
  11. ↑ "Dignity in the face of adversity". Presbyterian Record. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Training family physicians in Ethiopia". University of Toronto News.
  13. ↑ "Health Minister Philpott Has Changed The Face Of Ethiopia's Primary Care". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Cuts to refugee health cruelly harm the most vulnerable". Toronto Star. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 "Liberal newcomers could bring wide-ranging experience to Trudeau's cabinet". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Stouffville so represented in field of candidates". yorkregion.com. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  17. ↑ "TEDxStouffville". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  18. ↑ "A Coin for Every Country". Metro Morning (Interview). Toronto: CBC. 3 March 2005.
  19. ↑ "Alumni honoured in school halls of fame". Cambrideg Times. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  20. ↑ "A Coin for Every Country". Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  21. ↑ "Give a Day to World AIDS". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  22. ↑ "5 inspiring women who are changing global health". Best Health. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  23. ↑ "Rookie GTA MP Jane Philpott takes on health portfolio". CBC. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  24. ↑ ""Give a Day" campaign makes fighting HIV-AIDS all in a day's work". This. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "Liberals acclaim candidate in Markham–Stouffville federal riding". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  26. ↑ "Power & Politics". CBC player. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  27. ↑ "$350 million for refugees and immigration returned to government, unspent". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  28. ↑ "NDP, Liberals call for increased refugee settlement in Canada by year's end". CTV News. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  29. ↑ Laura Fraser, "Rookie GTA MP Jane Philpott takes on health portfolio," CBC News, Nov. 4, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Jane Philpott, first MD to be named health minister, on mission to help poor". National Post. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  31. ↑ "CABINET COMMITTEE MANDATE AND MEMBERSHIP" (PDF). Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  32. ↑ "Cabinet committees are where Ottawa's real power lies". National Post. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  33. 1 2 "Syrian refugee crisis: Canada strikes committee to fast track resettlement". CBC News. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  34. ↑ "After six months in office, give Trudeau a 'B', while his cabinet's success is a mixed bag". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  35. ↑ "Debates of April 22nd, 2016". openparliament.ca. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  36. ↑ "Liberal government fully restores refugee health care program". CBC. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  37. ↑ "Philpott expects more applications for safe injection sites". iPolitics. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  38. ↑ "Health Minister Jane Philpott 'anxious' to sign new health accord by year's end". CBC. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  39. ↑ "Ottawa joins provinces and territories in bulk-buying drug alliance". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  40. ↑ "Canada holds emergency debate over aboriginal suicide 'tragedy'". Reuters. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  41. ↑ "Justin Trudeau visits La Loche, pledges support for town in wake of shooting". Toronto Star. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  42. ↑ "Crisis workers sent to Attawapiskat after spike in suicide attempts". CBC. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  43. ↑ "Maclean's on the Hill: An audio briefing on the week in politics". Maclean's. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  44. ↑ "Federal marijuana legislation to be introduced in spring 2017, Philpott says". CBC. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  45. ↑ "Why it matters that Canada's health minister actually understands medicine". Chatelaine. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  46. ↑ "Prime Minister announces action on Alberta wildfires". Prime Minister of Canada. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  47. ↑ "Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting 2016". The Commonwealth. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  48. ↑ "Government of Canada Helps Advance Actions to Address Global Health Challenges". CNW. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  49. ↑ "Health Minister Jane Philpott agrees $1,700 limo ride 'too high' | Toronto Star". thestar.com. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
  50. ↑ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/limo-company-used-by-jane-philpott-offers-refund-to-taxpayers/article31453947/
  51. ↑ "Philpott billed taxpayers $520 for Air Canada lounge access, document shows | Metro News". Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  52. ↑ Smith, Joanna. "Health Minister Jane Philpott on lessons for her med student daughter". Toronto Star. Toronto Star. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  53. ↑ "Candidate Profile: Jane Philpott". yorkregion.com.
  54. ↑ "The Honourable Jane Philpott MP". Government of Canada.
  55. ↑ "Philpott named new Health Minister". Canadian Mennonite. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  56. ↑ "2014 IME Award Recipients". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  57. ↑ "Communiqué: AFMC awards for outstanding contributions to medical education in Canada". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  58. ↑ "The DFCM Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  59. ↑ "UofT Faculty of Medicine 2012 Research Award Recipients" (PDF). Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  60. ↑ "CPD SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FAMILY PHYSICIANS" (PDF). Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  61. ↑ "The Casey Awards". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  62. ↑ "Jane Philpott - The Casey Awards 2009". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  63. ↑ "Federation of Medical Women of Canada". Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  64. ↑ "Global National's Everyday Hero". canada.com.
  65. ↑ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Markham—Stouffville, 30 September 2015; Elections Canada, Electoral Districts, accessed Oct. 20, 2015.
  66. ↑ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates
  67. ↑ Pundits' Guide to Canadian Elections
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