‘Prepare for the storm’: Canadians demand health-care fixes in recent Nanos survey

With the vast majority of Canadians saying they are frustrated and worried over the state of health care, and that they want to see change, pollster Nik Nanos says that governments “should prepare for the storm” of health-care reform.

“One way or another, it’s coming because it has been percolating for such a long time,” said Nanos, chief data scientist and founder of Nanos Research.

“The frustration and anger with the health-care system is significant.” 

The reason this frustration isn’t very evident now, according to the long-time pollster, is because Canadians and governments are “rightly focused” on Canada-United States relations. 

But the worry is there, it's strong, and it has been highlighted in a survey conducted by Nanos Research for Santis Health. 

Patrick Nelson, managing partner at the health consulting company, said the statistic that “screams” at him is that 91 per cent of Canadians think the system needs to change. 

Respondents were asked how important it is that the health care system change. Approximately two-thirds (64 per cent) said it is important, while 27 per cent said it's somewhat important. Six per cent said they were unsure, which is higher than the three per cent who said it's unimportant or somewhat unimportant.

Noting that the majority sentiment is consistent across the country, Nelson said, “I think it's pretty telling. And I don't think it's a negative. I think it's a big opportunity for governments or health system leaders to embrace change in a different way than we do in Canada.”   

More than one-third (38.6 per cent) of Canadians say they are worried about the health care system, while 31 per cent say they are frustrated. In comparison, 13.8 per cent say they are confident, and 12.1 per cent say they are hopeful. 

When asked about their biggest concern, most respondents—25.5 per cent—pointed to long waits for care. Other popular responses were “poor access to services” (12.1 per cent), shortage of health care staff (11.5 per cent), and shortage of family doctors (8.3 per cent). 

Though each option is distinct from one another, they are all connected to the ability to find care when needed. 

Nanos said respondents were not given a list of options for that specific question, and could choose whatever they wanted. 

“I think what it shows to me is that the number one problem with health care in Canada is uncertainty—uncertainty as to how long it will take to access the services, uncertainty as to whether we will have the health-care practitioners that we need,” said Nanos about the question.

“It's kind of like [patients are] defeated before they even show up [in a health-care facility].”

Canada’s health-care systems have been under significant strain during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, with governments across the country looking at implementing measures to improve health-care access. 

For example, at the federal level, there was a focus by then-Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau’s government in 2023 to provide $25-billion to provinces and territories with instructions that the dollars had to be applied to help health systems, whether that be to improve human resources, make it easier to find family health services or access mental health and substance use services, or to improve health data collection.   

The first phase of those bilateral agreements, known as “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians” ended this past March, but Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s (Papineau, Que.) office confirmed to The Hill Times in May that the deals are being renegotiated so that provinces and territories will receive funding for the second phase. 

But Nelson, whose work has focused on health policy for nearly 25 years, says the problems are not new. 

“There was a giant spotlight on the health system, on the shortage of health professionals, on access [during the pandemic, but] I think most people in the system would tell you that the health professional problem perhaps was exacerbated by COVID, but it existed before COVID,” he said. 

Nearly half of Canadians say they're not open to paying for health care: survey

Nelson said his firm decided to commission the survey because the constant focus on the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions on Canada “has left little room to talk about the health system.”  

But he didn’t want the survey—which does repeatedly illustrate Canadians’ concerns about health care—to be all “doom and gloom.” 

Saying that it was also meant to be about the “change sentiment,” Nelson added it was important to consider possible ways to improve the system and see Canadians’ openness to those proposals. 

On that angle, the poll includes nine questions to determine how Canadians feel about options including artificial intelligence to help with diagnosis and treatment, virtual care appointments, having professionals aside from doctors provide routine care, and using a “digital wallet” to make it easier to share health data across providers. 

Of those, respondents were most open to the idea of receiving routine care and prescriptions from professionals—including nurse practitioners and pharmacists—who aren’t doctors. More than two-thirds of respondents said they were open, while 26 per cent said they were somewhat open. 

Regarding new technologies, 43 per cent of respondents said they were open and 37 per cent said they were somewhat open to the use of more virtual care. Only six per cent said they're not keen at all on the option.

The result of the AI question shows more reluctance, with 27 per cent saying they are open, 40 per cent saying they are somewhat open, and 14 per cent saying they are not open at all. 

But Nelson still sees an opportunity in terms of Canadians’ feelings about the use of AI. 

“If you can't get in to see your doctor, can't get into the hospital quickly when things are happening, you want answers and you want them fast. So, people are 100-per-cent going to go to AI,” he said. 

Nanos’ perspective is that Canadians feel like the health-care system hasn’t “caught up” with the digital revolution that began during the pandemic when people were forced to use virtual tools to stay in touch. 

He said there’s an opportunity to use AI in a way that doesn’t replace physician care, but can help with routine tasks such as making appointments. 

But where Canadians more or less draw the line in terms of new tools is expectations that they would have to pay more to receive care. 

Respondents were asked if they were willing to pay out of pocket for “faster access to medically necessary services” including minor surgeries. Nearly half—43 per cent—said they were not open, 19 per cent said they were somewhat not open, while a total of 37 per cent said they were open or somewhat open. 

Additionally, 34 per cent said they were not open to paying more in personal taxes specifically for health care, while 15 per cent said they were open. 

But they do seem to be more flexible as to the system in which they receive the care, with 60 per cent saying they are open or somewhat open to receiving surgeries and diagnostic tests through private organizations as long as the care remains publicly funded. One-quarter of respondents said they were not open at all. 

“I think that the part that sticks out to me is that obviously governments have a conundrum. It isn't open season, it isn't [that] Canadians are saying, ‘We'll pay more for anything and everything.’ They're not saying that in particular right now with those affordability problems, but .... generally speaking, Canadians are agnostic about who delivers the care as long as it is publicly funded,” Nelson said.

Both Nelson and Nanos said that the conversation of who delivers care in Canada is too often ideological. 

“I think too often we get mired in these ideological conversations, and I think the survey screams that decision-makers [should] get on with [improvements],” said Nelson. 

Nanos said those with strong feelings on both sides of the public-private debate can be too dogmatic, with one side thinking that all care should be provided publicly while others believe the private sector has to be involved because “anything public doesn’t do a good job.” 

“But what most people want is to just focus on not what is private and not what is public, but what can be improved, and what is the best way to deliver that,” Nanos added. 

As for what these findings should demonstrate to political decision-makers, Nelson said that once concerns about the economy and Canada-U.S. relations decrease, “this health-care problem is going to return, and it is going to be at the top of the list. I think it's incumbent on governments to stay focused on improving the health system, and … thinking about how we can do things differently.” 

“We don't know when we're going to hit the wall on health care politically,” said Nanos. “Because who knows how long this Canada-U.S. thing will last, but you can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as Canadians are no longer distracted by what's happening south of the border, that issues like health care will come back to the fore pretty fast and pretty furious, because the fact of the matter is health care touches everyone.” 

The survey polled 1,003 randomly selected individuals across the country with weighting to reflect age and gender demographics as provided by the 2021 census. Results were collected between May 3 and May 6, 2026. The hybrid telephone and online survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. 

tsanci@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times 

Editor's note: This article was updated on July 2 to state the federal government's Working Together bilateral deals are worth $25-billion, and not $25-million, as originally stated. The Hill Times regrets the error.