Canadian Medical Association and Canadian Cancer Society lead health lobbying in 2026
With 129 communication reports, the Canadian Medical Association’s conversations with the federal government on access to primary care and the need for shareable health data propelled the organization to the top of the most active lobbying health groups for the first half of 2026.
Dr. Margot Burnell, a board member and past president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), said the introduction of the federal Liberals’ Bill S-5, Connected Care for Canadians Act, in the Senate this past February was “one of the two most important things” they were advocating for that came to fruition.
"We've been advocating for it, I would say, for decades,” said Burnell about this type of legislation.
“What we need in 2026 is really the patient needs to have all of their information—be the owner of their information—and be able to share it with their health-care teams as they go through the continuum of their health-care journey from outpatient care, emergency care, specialist care, or in-patient care, if required,” Burnell said.
Other priorities for the CMA over the last six months include improving access to primary care and Indigenous-led health care, climate issues, and fighting misinformation and disinformation.
Along with Bill S-5, another important policy goal that is a bit closer to reality was the introduction of Bill C-34, Safe Social Media Act, on June 10.
The bill will help in efforts to fight health misinformation and disinformation, and protect youth when it comes to their social media use, which can impact their mental health, according to Burnell.
Burnell, who as a CMA board member has her own file on the lobbyists’ registry, had discussions with Health Minister Marjorie Michel (Papineau, Que.) and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon (Toronto Centre, Ont.) on Feb. 4, and Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller (Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, Que.) on April 22. She connected with Maggie Chi (Don Valley North, Ont.), parliamentary secretary to Michel, on Jan. 20, March 31, and April 21.
Also celebrating the introduction of Bill S-5 is the Canadian Cancer Society, which logged 94 reports on the federal lobbyists’ registry between January and June, according to calculations by The Hill Times, which compiled lobbying data from the federal lobbyists’ registry for the first six months of 2026.
Seeing the introduction of Bill S-5 on World Cancer Day, said Helena Sonea, the organization’s advocacy director, was “really exciting.”
“We know that cancer care is delivered very differently depending on where you live, and so for us, it's really exciting. But [it’s] also important and timely that if we're thinking about the opportunities that we have with respect to provincial and territorial barriers and breaking down those trade barriers in particular, wouldn't it be fantastic if we had better access … [to] stronger data that could help us make more informed policy decisions?” Sonea said.
Another major priority for the Canadian Cancer Society has been to talk to the government about the need to improve this country’s clinical trials system. Sonea said her organization’s interest in clinical trials has matched well with the current government’s focus on innovation and economic competitiveness.
“There's such a strong emphasis with this government on economic growth and productivity and competitiveness, and we really need to be drawing those through lines for this government with respect to … our priority playbook, if you will. What are the areas in which we overlap with this government? And [clinical] trials are a huge opportunity,” she said.
The lead representative for the Canadian Cancer Society’s registry file is its CEO, Andrea Seale. Sonea is one of the in-house lobbyists on the file. Organization representatives met with Michel on April 21, Justice Minister Sean Fraser (Central Nova, N.S.) on May 29, and Solomon on June 17. There were three meetings with Bloc Québécois health critic Maxime Blanchette-Joncas (Rimouski—La Matapédia, Ont.) on April 21, June 3, and June 5; and two meetings with Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Riding Mountain, Man.) on April 21 and June 15, when he was health critic. Mazier is currently his party’s public works and procurement critic.
The clinical trials situation in Canada was tackled in the July 24 report from the federally-appointed Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Sector Task Force, whose job was to suggest ways to enhance this country’s competitiveness in order to ensure sustainable and reliable access to pharmaceuticals.
The report states that clinical trials globally “represent a large and rapidly growing annual market of $82-billion,” and create high-wage jobs, in addition to their health benefits of providing new treatments to patients. Canada has a four-per-cent share of the world’s clinical trials—representing $3-billion in direct expenditures annually—but that is a decline from the six per cent it held in 2021.
The Canadian Cancer Society released its own action plan on improving the clinical trials system last December, and Sonea said her organization was “really pleased” to see the alignment of the suggestions between the two reports.
Among those suggestions, both the pharma task force and the Canadian Cancer Society would like to see shorter timelines for approving and beginning clinical trials.
Organizations match messaging to feds’ economic focus
When asked for her thoughts on the level of focus Prime Minister Mark Carney’s (Nepean, Ont.) government has placed on health amid its heavy economic agenda, Burnell said the government has been confronting “major issues due to the geopolitical times,” which has been “top of mind.”
The CMA has added its voice to this conversation by emphasizing that “health care is critically important. Health-care policy goes hand in hand with economic policy. If you do not have healthy workers and healthy families and healthy communities, then you're not going to be able to achieve a healthy economy. And that health care is an important Canadian infrastructure that needs to be supported,” Burnell said.
She said this message is being conveyed not only by organizations like hers but also Canada’s premiers.
The premiers held their Council of the Federation meeting in Charlottetown last month, where they released a communiqué in which health care was the first item in a list of priorities, which was followed by affordability, the Canadian economy, Arctic security and sovereignty, productivity and labour, and public safety.
On health care, the communiqué states that “certainty is needed on the federal government’s intentions as a funding partner” in light of the expiration next March of a series of health bilateral deals, including those for mental health and home care. The premiers called on the federal government to renew the deals, and maintain the current five-per-cent escalator of the Canada Health Transfer.
Carney appeared in a press conference with the premiers on July 23 following their own first ministers’ meeting in Charlottetown. The prime minister did not commit to renewing the deals and said that federal, provincial, and territorial health and finance ministers would meet to discuss funding.
Burnell said that improving health care will require increased resources, “whether it’s human or financial.”
The CMA is advocating that any increased federal health spending be attached to an accountability framework showing “that those dollars are well spent and we have a good return on the investment to improve health care,” while respecting the fact that provinces and territories will have individual needs, Burnell said.
On the current government’s focus on health care, Sonea said, “I think certainly we're cautiously optimistic about the amount of attention that is placed right now as a way to talk about health but through this economic and the life sciences and pharmaceutical lens of, how are we bringing more health-care innovation to Canada? How do we diversify our global partnerships so that Canada can have more medicines made in Canada by Canadians for Canadians within our borders?”
“And then at the end of the day, while that's very important, we also need to make sure that people have access to the care that they need to receive when they need to receive it. And so, we will continue to emphasize the importance of prevention and stopping more cancers before they start,” Sonea added.
Other advocacy priorities include improving the quality of life for cancer patients, turning the non-refundable caregiver tax credit into a refundable one, and ensuring there is sustainable funding for the National Advisory Committee on Preventive Health Services, which produces health screening guidelines for the health sector, according to Sonea.
tsanci@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
The 50 most active health lobbying organization and companies between January and June 2026
This list of the 50 most active health lobbying organizations and companies is based on statistics of monthly communication reports published by the federal lobbyists' registry. The monthly statistics for January to April 2026 were downloaded by The Hill Times on June 3, 2026. The May and June 2026 statistics were downloaded on July 31, 2026. Communication reports submitted by organizations after those dates may not be reflected in the above count. The list includes organizations that specifically focus on health as well as those focused on research and food security, because of those groups' proximity to health policy.