Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks, everyone, for the invitation to speak to this committee.

I represent the Extended Healthcare Professionals Coalition as the chair.

I'll be making my opening remarks in English, but afterwards, I would be happy to answer your questions in French or English.

The Extended Health Professionals Coalition comprises over 100,000 of Canada's regulated health care professionals. Our coalition includes audiologists, chiropractors, dental hygienists, dentists, denturists, dietitians, occupational therapists, optometrists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and registered social workers. The breadth of our services can help reduce unnecessary hospitalization, dependency on pain medication and premature entry into long-term care facilities, and improve health outcomes across the lifespan.

I would like to take this opportunity to first share a personal story on the importance of access to care that our members provide. Last year, in Ottawa, I suffered a small stroke, and as a result I lost a quarter of my sight. Thankfully, I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me; I'm good. I was able to identify the signs early and receive immediate intervention. It was health care systems, doctors, nurses and hospitals that managed the emergency. However, it was access to EHPC health professionals that brought back my quality of life and allowed me to return to work and regain my sight.

As you now understand the importance of our services, let me provide you with an overview of the EHPC pre-budget submission. That's my focus today.

It is, first, that the Government of Canada continue its expansion of the Canada student loan forgiveness program to include audiologists, dietitians, chiropractors, denturists, occupational therapists, optometrists and speech-language pathologists to help strengthen rural and remote care for Canadians.

We are thankful for the inclusion of some of our members in the government’s announcement that more health care professionals in underserved rural and remote communities will benefit from loan forgiveness, including social workers, dentists, dental hygienists, physiotherapists, psychologists and pharmacists. We look forward to an update on the progress towards its implementation. Canadians living in rural and remote communities deserve access to all of our members and the necessary services they provide.

According to a report from ESDC and input from our members, we know that loan forgiveness would be an attractive recruitment option to attract health care providers to underserved areas. Our essential preventative, diagnostic and treatment care options are particularly important in rural and remote areas where the population has a higher concentration of indigenous and elderly populations.

Our second ask is that the Government of Canada ensure the ongoing collection of pan-Canadian health sector workforce data across the public and private sectors. Currently, the data collected at the federal level does not encompass all of the necessary health professions. The information also collects only the number of professionals per 100,000. It does not capture essential information for health human resources planning, such as where someone is practising, whether they are located in remote or rural areas, if they are practising in a public or private setting, or their demographics.

Our third ask is that the Government of Canada introduce a tax credit for eligible small and medium-sized employers to help them expand their coverage for extended health care benefits for their employees. We know from our members that health coverage has remained stagnant for many years. At the same time, the cost of doing business has risen with inflation. For example, vision care coverage today is the same as it was in the 1970s. Despite improvements to vision care diagnostics and imaging, coverage for our other member services is quite limited. An average coverage per employee is, say, $500 per year for services such as speech-language pathology, mental health, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc., which only pays for two treatments. The cost of providing these plans is the most expensive for small employers.

Our final ask is that the federal government establish a primary health care transition fund to improve access to interdisciplinary community team-based primary care that integrates services provided by extended health care professionals. With increased federal investments in primary care settings, early intervention and timely access to care, Canada has an opportunity to transform the current overwhelmed and expensive health system to a community-centric, health and wellness-based model of care, with an emphasis on health promotion and injury and disease prevention. This fund would help support and expand existing models such as Ontario’s family health teams, Alberta’s primary care networks and Quebec’s local community centres to include more extended health care professionals.

We appreciate the time you have given us today, and we look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you.