Health Summit 2025: The Politics of Change

Press Release

April 3, 2025

Just days into a federal election campaign, hundreds of physicians, medical learners, policy-makers and people with lived experience gathered in Ottawa and online to talk about Canada’s evolving political landscape and how to keep health care at the top of the national agenda.

The Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA’s) Health Summit 2025 — held Mar. 27–28 — featured sessions on how to mitigate the impact of new U.S. health policies, harness innovation to spur economic growth, navigate the AI revolution in a safe and responsible way, and advance Indigenous self-determination. High-profile guests included Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dr. Andrew Furey and AI expert Dr. Daniel Yang.

Watch the Health Summit recording

“This conference certainly reinforced the importance of having multiple voices at the table and that each of those voices matter.” — Dr. Shazma Mithani, ER physician, Royal Alexandra Hospital

Here are some highlights from the event, hosted by Dr. Carl White Ulysse, a CMA member and pediatric anesthesiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Beyond borders: How U.S. health policy could shake up Canada

This session explored recent cuts to health in the U.S. — including news that morning of 10,000 planned layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — and the potential impact on immunization, disease surveillance and data collection. Globe and Mail health columnist André Picard interviewed Dr. Tom Frieden and science and global health reporter Apoorva Mandavilli from The New York Times.

“We are hearing about moves day by day which will affect immunization globally and will affect influenza tracking, polio virus, TB, HIV, malaria and so much more, and could lead to the deaths of millions of children.” — Dr. Tom Frieden

The panel discussion that followed focused on the potential impact of these cuts on Canada, as well as the growing threats of false health misinformation, mistrust in physicians and tariffs. CMA President Dr. Joss Reimer, Premier Furey (virtual), Minister Jones and Minister Asagwara (virtual) also focused on opportunities for Canada to step up in this political climate, including bolstering interprovincial relations, increasing physician mobility and attracting health workers and scientists from the U.S.

“This moment of disruption affords us the opportunity to break down the silos, whether it’s on mobility, data sharing or procurement. This is the moment where Canada can come together as one united health care system.” — Hon. Dr. Andrew Furey

Health care as an economic advantage

Dan Breznitz, the Munk Chair of Innovation Studies at The University of Toronto, headlined this session on how to accelerate innovation in Canada to build a high-performing health system. He and moderator Georgina Black from Deloitte explored the role of innovation in a public system, the purpose of pilot projects and how to keep more innovators from leaving for the U.S.

“Why don’t we have a national [innovation] strategy? Why don’t we even have a discussion about that?” — Dan Breznitz

Indigenous self-determination in health: Commitments and concrete actions

On the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, including seven health-related calls, this session focused on amplifying Indigenous leaders challenging the status quo in health care. Dr. Michael Dumont, Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, Jennifer Petiquay-Dufresne, Dr. Brent Young and Elder Debbie Eisan each presented the work they’re doing to advance Indigenous self-determination through specialized medical clinics, Indigenous-led research and the creation of solutions to help end systemic racism. Inuk journalist Juanita Taylor moderated the discussion.

“We changed our whole contract model to put the incentive on relational care – how well are you building and maintaining those relationships – and looking after not just the patients but looking after the families and the community in the care that you provide. And so, you get your incentive if you are doing that.” — Dr. Michael Dumont

Speed Talks – Why health matters / Health care 3.0

In these unique sessions, speakers each had five minutes to share their stories; in one session, how they’d spend health care dollars if they held the purse strings, and in the other, how new technologies are reshaping health care delivery. Speakers represented a variety of backgrounds, including patient advocates, a medical student, a building engineer and a dean at Ontario Tech University.

“The dream is that every single cancer patient, not just lung cancer patients but all of us, have access to biomarker testing. Right now, it’s a patchwork across Canada.” — Angus Pratt, CMA Patient Voice

Radical collaboration: The key to unlocking limitless potential

Featuring fun social experiments, this session challenged participants to recognize their blind spots and be open to considering differing points of view. In an increasingly polarized world, Anthony Morgan, science communicator and co-host of The Nature of Things, highlighted the need for collaboration to drive transformational change, in health care and beyond.

“Blind spots — our unconscious assumptions we bring to the world — are barriers to our capacity for innovation.” — Anthony Morgan

AI in health care: Innovating at the speed of trust

This session, from Dr. Daniel Yang at Kaiser Permanente, talked about the need for AI in health care, but also the responsibility to ensure it’s deployed in a safe and effective way. With much of the social value and risk falling to those deploying the technology, Dr. Yang stressed the importance of building trust for AI through the “human stack” — people, priorities, processes and policies.

“We really need to walk the walk of responsible AI. And if we can do that, I believe we can help transform what would otherwise be a fragmented and rigid regulatory landscape into one that can accelerate progress in innovation while still reinforcing trust.” — Dr. Daniel Yang

Pitching the minister: An engagement exercise

The passion and energy of political strategist LaToia Jones was infectious, as she shared her expertise on how to craft a concise and effective pitch to decision-makers. Participants developed key messages on how to improve health care access and made their best pitches to Jones live on stage, in an inspiring final session. CMA President Dr. Joss Reimer capped off Health Summit 2025 by encouraging attendees to advocate for health reform at the local, provincial and federal levels.

“Those who speak up get heard by political decision-makers and can positively affect change. Together, we can ensure health care is a priority this election and beyond.” — Dr. Joss Reimer

ILR5