Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

10
Health systems in transition Canada
Table 1.6
Results of federal elections of 14 October 2008 and 2 May 2011
Political party 2008 2011
Seats Popular vote (%) Seats Popular vote (%)
Conservative 143 37.6 166 39.6
New Democratic Party 37 18.2 103 30.6
Liberal 77 26.2 34 18.9
Bloc Québécois 49 10.0 4 6.0
Green Party 0 6.8 1 3.9
Independent 2 0.7 0 0.4
Other 0 0.5 0 0.6
Sources: Elections Canada (2008, 2011).
Internationally, Canada is a founding member of the United Nations and,
because of its long history as a self-governing colony within the British Empire,
an influential member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Due to its status as
both a French-speaking and English-speaking jurisdiction, Canada is also
a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, as are the
provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick.
Global health forms part of Canadian foreign policy and international
development assistance. Canada is signatory to several international treaties
that recognize the right to health, the most important of which are the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976). The Canadian Government
played an important role in establishing the globally influential Ottawa
Charter for Health Promotion in 1986, a declaration highlighting the impact of
the social determinants of health, strongly influenced by the earlier Lalonde
Report of 1974 (Kickbusch, 2003). In 1991, Canada ratified the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and its provisions concerning the
health and health care rights of children. In 1997, Canada became a member
of the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty, which has
significant implications for prescription drug patenting as well as research and
development in the medical sector generally.
Canada is also an active participant in the WHO and its regional office in
the Americas – the Pan American Health Organization. Under the auspices of
WHO, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO, 2003) attempts
to widen and strengthen public health measures to reduce tobacco consumption
and thereby reduce its deleterious health consequences throughout the world.
As a country that has succeeded in reducing its smoking rate dramatically