Catch up with MDs on the Hill — and find out if apathy will keep your
junior colleagues from joining them

Physician MPs in profile

As political defenders, these four doctors are extremely well-placed to act as advocates and help ensure that patient and doctor interests get a voice. Find out how they're doing.

By Craig Silverman

	Dr Keith Martin Riding: Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, BC Political affiliation: Liberal

"A guy had gasoline poured on him and was then set on fire," Dr Martin says. "He was lying on a gurney with his four brothers standing over him. He was literally smoking and he was my age."

That experience cemented his desire to help end deadly conflicts around the world. Two years later, Dr Martin ran and won a seat in the House of Commons as a member of the Reform Party in the BC riding of Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca. Today he sits as a Liberal MP— he switched parties in early 2004.

Dr Martin says he always saw medicine as a way to serve society, and his career in politics as an extension of that mission. "As a physician I was able to affect patients on an individual basis, but as a politician I was hoping to be able to breathe life into some of the solutions that I developed as a doctor on the front lines," he says.

ROOTS OF AN MD MP
Prior to entering politics his aforementioned stint working as a doctor in South Africa in 1986 and 1991 gave him a keen interest in international health issues. A graduate of the medical school at the University of Toronto and former general practitioner, he says he's still engaged in health issues as an MP. And he's keen on seeing currently practising physicians playing a role in health policy.

"My hope is that physicians will seize the opportunity to provide input, offer solutions to government, and work through their professional bodies to influence public policy," he says. Dr Martin laments that he rarely hears from physicians in his own riding.

ON CURRENT AFFAIRS
As far as current hot button issues, Dr Martin says he's against doctors working with online pharmacies to provide drugs to patients in the United States.

"It is unethical in my view," he says. "Doctors shouldn't be writing prescriptions to patients that aren't connected to their practice and that they have never seen."

Martin's main focus is with international issues. He is committed to fighting diseases like malaria and HIV around the world and is particularly devoted to ensuring peace and preventing conflict — two things he says are closely related to health.

"We need to have an early warning system, a mechanism of intervention of using the carrot and the stick against countries prepared to kill a lot of people," he says. "A small arms registry could be very effective in tracing those arms. We also must pursue aid and development."

Dr Martin says he may yet return to practising medicine, perhaps back in developing countries or with an organization like the International Red Cross or World Health Organization. In fact, he still keeps his stethoscope in his car.

"I hope to put it to good use once again some day," he says.

 

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett Minister of State (Public Health) Riding: St Paul's, ON Political affiliation: Liberal For Dr Carolyn Bennett, 1997 was a big year — she delivered her last baby and won her first election. She had previously ran unsuccessfully for a provincial seat but emerged triumphant in her first stab at federal politics, nabbing a spot as the Liberal MP for the Ontario riding of St Paul's. Dr Bennett has also been serving as the Minister of State for Public Health since 2003, which has kept her close to the health issues she first championed as a family physician in Toronto. "Almost every piece of public policy had been through my medical office," Dr Bennett says. "From early childhood development, to the environment with smog days, to food banks and food security. I saw small businessmen who couldn't get a loan and that was also part of my job as a family doctor in terms of stress in the workplace." TAKE 'EM TO SCHOOL "Out of the last First Ministers' meeting [in September 2004] we have defined some overall goals for Canada's health system," she says. "We are working on an integrated disease strategy and trying to work on the prevention piece of public health in terms of communicating the risks of smoking and the importance of nutrition and physical activity. The other [issue] for me this term is the school health consortium and moving on the [prevention and education] opportunity we have in schools." The school health consortium idea was hammered out and agreed upon at the First Ministers' meeting in September. It aims to help schools share information and strategies to improve student health and health education. Dr Bennett is also pleased with the recent health accord between the provinces and federal government also ironed out at the First Ministers' meeting. That agreement will see $41 billion in health funds transferred to the provinces over the next decade. "We made sure the provinces had lots of money in terms of the $41 billion, and now we will work together to make sure the strategies around reducing wait times and including the measurements are implemented," Dr Bennett says. POLICY MATTERS FOR MDS She also sees the Assisted Human Reproduction Act of 2003 as being important to physicians in the coming years. That law, also known as Bill C-13, received royal assent in March of last year and sets guidelines for cloning and assisted human reproduction. Key parts of the law include a ban on human cloning and the sale of human sperm and eggs. It also provided regulations for things such as in vitro fertilization. "That bill was challenging and I think we all need to work together to make sure that when its review comes up in two years, we'll be able to make sure it is working in the best interests of Canadians," she says. "The debate on embryonic stem cell research was an emotional one. We as physicians need to make sure those debates end up being as science-based as they can be."