Nine doctors seeking office in Canadian federal elections

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 31 May 2004 - 18:00 PDT

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Nine physicians are seeking office in Canada's June federal election, a list compiled by CMA (Canadian Medical Association) News indicates. If further names are discovered, they will be added at www.cma.ca. The 9 candidates are a far cry from Canada's first election in 1867, when 17 physicians (including future Prime Minister Charles Tupper) were elected.

Five of the 9 doctors running in 2004 are incumbents, and 3 of them have served in cabinet. The physician candidates are:

-- Dr. Carolyn Bennett (Liberal, Ont.), first elected in 1997, named Canada's first minister of state for public health in December 2003;

-- Dr. Hedy Fry (Liberal, BC), first elected 1993, former secretary of state for the the status of women and multiculturalism and past president of the British Columbia Medical Association;

-- Dr. Rey Pagtakhan (Liberal, Man.), first elected 1988, former veterans affairs minister, named minister of Western economic diversification in December;

-- Dr. Bernard Patry (Liberal, Que.), first elected in 1993, chaired Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade;

-- Dr. Keith Martin (Independent, BC), first elected as a Reform Party MP in 1993, running as a Liberal in 2004;

-- Dr. Robert Mullan of Nova Scotia, a member of the CMA Board, will run for the Conservatives against Scott Brison, a former Progressive Conservative MP who has switched to the Liberals;

-- Dr. Avalon Roberts will face off for the Liberals against Conservative Leader Stephen Harper in Calgary;

-- Dr. Sanjeev Goel is running for the Green Party in Ontario; and

-- Dr. Gordon Guyatt is running for the NDP in Ontario.

Written by Patrick Sullivan

To read the full article, please go to this web page of the Canadian Medical Association