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