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Our Board

Kip Woodward

C.C. (Kip) Woodward

Board Chair

A life-long resident of Vancouver, Kip Woodward is President of Woodcorp Investments Ltd., a private venture capital investment firm.

 

He is on a number of private sector boards and has spent decades helping his community by sitting on a number of non-profit and government boards, including: serving as past Chair of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, more than 20 years in health governance with St. Paul’s Hospital and its Foundation, as well as Providence Health Care. He is a Director of the Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Woodward Foundation, past Chair of The Nature Trust of BC, past Chair of Brentwood College School and is a past member of the Provincial Judicial Council.

 

Kip is committed to the not-for-profit sector, helping young entrepreneurs and driving strategy for start-ups and mature businesses. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time fishing, hiking and skiing.

Scott Hennig 2

Scott Hennig

Director​

A long-time CTF supporter, Scott worked as a speechwriter and public policy researcher before joining the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in 2005 as the Alberta director.

He served as the CTF’s Alberta director until 2012 when he was promoted to Vice President, Communications. He was appointed President and CEO on January 1, 2019. 

He is a graduate of the University of Alberta where he received his degree in Economics.

Scott currently serves on the Fort Saskatchewan Boys and Girls Club capital campaign committee and on the North Zone Referee Committee executive. Scott previously served on the Fort Saskatchewan Minor Hockey Association Executive and is a founding member of the Fort Saskatchewan Urban Forest Committee.

Scott enjoys running, golf and coaching his kids in whatever sports they choose to play.

tracy

Tracy Johnson

Director​

Tracy Johnson has been an entrepreneur since she was 26 with her first business in Vancouver, B.C. in 1997. She expanded to having 5 restaurants in Edmonton, Calgary and the Turks and Caicos over the following 10 years. While there was an evolution of these businesses over the years, she has been keenly aware of the highs and lows – including hosting Alberta House at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Tracy’s interests have evolved from being operational to becoming a small business advocate fighting high taxes and government overregulation.

Tracy earned a BSc (Honours) in Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Western Ontario and went on to her MBA at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is involved in several charities including hosting a yearly fundraiser for the Calgary Ronald MacDonald House.

muchnik

Steven Muchnik

Director​

Born and raised in Ontario, Steven successfully founded and sold three businesses in manufacturing in perishable deli, frozen and shelf stable bakery categories.

He has an honours degree in political science from York University and is passionate about public policy and financial planning. Steven is an avid sports fan; both as a spectator and as a participant in recreational shinny, swimming and spinning.

wrobinson

Walter Robinson

Director​

Walter Robinson was born and raised in Toronto then lived for 35 years in Ottawa where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree from Carleton University. His public affairs career has included progressive roles of leadership in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.

He has served as the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, sought federal public office as a MP-candidate and participated as member of PM’s debate team twice, was the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Ottawa, and presently runs his own public affairs consultancy with a focus on the life sciences ecosystem and #AIinHealthcare. He is a champion for #patients and #patientadvocacy in #cndhealth.

Walter has been accorded several civic honours for his diverse record of community service which is punctuated by his passion for governance roles in health systems delivery and three decades of fundraising for leading-edge cancer research. He presently lives in Montreal.

Jamil

Dr. Jamil Ahmad

Director​

Dr. Jamil Ahmad is a plastic surgeon who practices in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Ahmad completed an Honours Bachelor of Science degree at the University of  Toronto, followed by medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

He completed his plastic surgery residency training at the Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In addition, he completed a fellowship in breast reconstruction at the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of Toronto.

Dr. Ahmad has served in many leadership and governance positions. He is Vice President on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Aesthetic Society, the largest professional society for board certified plastic surgeons specializing in aesthetic plastic surgery. Dr. Ahmad is President on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and President on the Board of Directors of the Rhinoplasty Society. He is also the Past Chair of the Section on Plastic Surgery of the Ontario Medical Association.

Dr. Ahmad has authored more than 180 articles and chapters in plastic surgery. He is the Body Contouring Section Editor on the Editorial Board for Aesthetic Surgery Journal. He co-authored both the 3rd and 4th Editions of Dallas Rhinoplasty: Nasal Surgery by the Masters, Secondary Rhinoplasty: By the Global Masters, and The Dallas Rhinoplasty and
Dallas Cosmetic Surgery Dissection Guide.

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Prevention – reduce demand in the first place

If Canadians lived healthier lives, we could reduce demand for emergency services, orthopaedic surgeries, primary care and more. 

For instance, if you visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll read that “about four in ten” cancer cases are preventable. The Heart and Stroke Foundation notes that “almost 80 percent of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.” A similar number of Diabetes cases are also preventable. 

Many joint replacements and visits to ERs and walk-in clinics could also be avoided through healthy living. 

To be sure, not all health problems can be avoided through healthy living – everyday the system treats Canadians with genetic conditions, helps those injured in unavoidable accidents and more.  

But there is an opportunity to reduce pressure on the health care system through Canadians shifting to healthier lifestyles – better diets, more exercise, etc. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this column. 

Partner with non-profits and for-profit clinics

European countries will partner with anyone who can help patients. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s a non-profit, a government entity or a private clinic. What matters is that patients receive quality treatment, in a timely manner and for a competitive price.  

In Canada, governments often delivery services using government-run hospitals instead of seeing if non-profit or private clinics could deliver the services more effectively. 

When governments have partnered with non-profit and private clinics, the results have often been quite good – Saskatchewan, Ontario and British Columbia are just a few examples of where partnerships have worked well. 

Canada should pursue more of these partnerships to reduce wait times and increase the volume of services provided to patients.  

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see the links above. 

Make cross border care more accessible

In Canada, citizens pay high taxes each year and we’re promised universal health care services in return. The problem is, wait times are often extremely long in our health system – sometimes patients have to wait years to see a specialist or receive surgery. 

If patients don’t want to wait long periods, they often have to reach into their own pocket and pay for treatment outside the province or country. 

Throughout the European Union, we also find universal health care systems. But a key difference is that EU patients have the right to go to other EU countries, pay for surgery and then be reimbursed by their home government. Reimbursements cover up to what the patient’s home government would have spent to provide the treatment locally. 

If Canada copied this approach, a patient waiting a year to get their hip operation could instead receive treatment next week in one of thousands of surgical clinics throughout the developed world. 

Governments benefit too as the patient is now back on their feet and avoiding complications that sometimes come with long wait times – meaning the government doesn’t have to treat those complications on top of the initial health problem. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or this shorter video. 

Legalize access to non-government providers

Canada is the only country in the world that puts up barriers, or outright bans patients from paying for health services locally. 

For instance, a patient in Toronto cannot pay for a hip operation at a private clinic in Toronto. Their only option is to wait for the government to eventually provide treatment or leave the province and pay elsewhere. 

Countries with better-performing universal health care systems do not have such bans. They allow patients a choice – use the public system or pay privately for treatment. Sweden, France, Australia and more – they all allow choice. 

Why? One reason is that allowing choice means some patients will decide to pay privately. This takes pressure off the public system. For instance, in Sweden, 87% of patients use the public system, but 13% purchase private health insurance. 

Ultimately, more choice improves access for patients. 

To learn more, watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or watch this short clip on this topic. 

Shift to funding services for patients, not bureaucracies

In Canada, most hospitals receive a cheque from the government each year and are then asked to do their best to help patients. This approach is known as “block funding”. 

Under this model, a patient walking in the door represents a drain on the hospital’s budget. Over the course of a year, hospital administrators have to make sure the budget stretches out so services are rationed. This is why you might have to wait until next year or the year after for a hip operation, knee operation, etc. 

In better-performing universal health systems, they take the opposite approach – hospitals receive money from the government each time they help a patient. If a hospital completes a knee operation, it might receive, say, $10,000. If it completes a knee operation on another patient, it receives another $10,000. 

This model incentivizes hospitals to help more patients – to help more patients with knee operations, cataract surgery, etc. This approach also incentivizes hospitals to spend money on expenses that help patients (e.g. more doctors, nurses, equipment, etc.) rather than using the money on expenses that don’t help patients (e.g. more admin staff). 

To learn more about this policy option, please watch our Health Reform Now documentary (scroll up) or see this post by MEI.