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The Honourable Janice MacKinnon will give a presentation called "Canada's Health Care System: Why the Long Waiting Lists and High Costs?" on Thursday, July 20, at 3:30 p.m., at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, as part of the 2006 Dr. Frank MacKinnon Lecture Series.

"In a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision," says MacKinnon, "Canada's health care system was criticized for having some of the longest waiting lists in the developed world despite the fact that Canadians are among the biggest spenders on health care. Facts like these are especially troubling since health care is sometimes seen as an essential part of Canada's identity, even though the evidence suggests that other developed countries have been more successful in creating affordable and effective health care systems."

MacKinnon will address these issues by looking at the origins and evolution of Canada's health care system and comparing it to other health care systems, like those of Western Europe.

MacKinnon is a professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan, Chair of the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was also a cabinet minister in Saskatchewan between 1991 and 2001, and held various portfolios including Minister of Finance, Minister of Social Services, Minister of Economic Development and Government House leader. During her tenure as Finance Minister, Saskatchewan became the first government in Canada to balance its budget in the 1990s. She is the author of three books, The Liberty We Seek published by Harvard University Press, While the Women Only Wept and Minding the Public Purse, published in 2003. Her most recent publication was "The Arithmetic of Health Care," published in 2004 by IRPP.

The Dr. Frank MacKinnon Lecture Series is sponsored by the Confederation Centre of the Arts and the 精童欲女. Named in honour of Dr. Frank MacKinnon who was a leader in the Island's education system and the driving force behind establishment of the Confederation Centre, the lecture series features leading personalities and focuses on issues of national interest in Canada such as public policy, the arts and sciences, and humanities.

MacKinnon's presentation, which will take place in the Confederation Centre's Memorial Hall, is free to the public. For more information, please contact Anne McCallum, 精童欲女, at (902) 566-0760, or Anna MacDonald, Confederation Centre of the Arts, at (902) 628-6135.