Prescriptions
for Health Reform

Jacques Chaoulli is a French-born physician who immigrated to Quebec in 1979 and became a prominent critic of Canada’s health-care system after witnessing long wait times and barriers to access. In 2005, he brought the landmark case Chaoulli v. Quebec to the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that Quebec’s ban on private medical insurance and private contracting for medically required hospital services violated patients’ rights. Although the decision applied only in Quebec, it raised major constitutional questions about access to health care across Canada.

Colin Craig is the President of SecondStreet.org, a Canadian think tank he helped launch in 2018. With over 20 years in public policy, he has influenced decisions at all levels of government. He oversees the group’s research and storytelling, and hosts its TV show On Second Street. Formerly with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Colin led major transparency and accountability campaigns. He holds an MBA and an economics degree from the University of Manitoba. In 2022, he received the Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal. He is the author of The Government Wears Prada and a contributor to Life After COVID.

Bacchus Barua is a Canadian economist with over 15 years of experience in think tank research and communications. A health care policy specialist, his work has been featured in major media outlets like CBC, CTV, BNN, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. He has testified before the House of Commons Health Committee and was formerly Director of Health Policy at the Fraser Institute. His research covers wait times, spending, and international comparisons. Bacchus holds degrees from the University of Delhi and Simon Fraser University and serves as an affiliate scholar at CHPI.

Daniel Dufort is a seasoned public policy professional with a law degree from Laval University. He served in the Office of the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada as a speechwriter, issues manager, and advisor on stakeholder relations and strategy. He also worked for the Minister of Infrastructure and the PM’s Quebec lieutenant. In the private sector, he specialized in government relations and crisis management. At the MEI, he served as Senior Director of External Relations and later as VP of Operations. A passionate advocate for freedom, his work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and La Presse+.

Emmanuelle holds a master’s degree in applied economics from HEC Montréal, where her thesis explored how air pollution affects office worker productivity. Recognized for academic excellence, she received multiple scholarships during her studies. Emmanuelle has worked on a range of public policy issues, including Quebec’s electric vehicle subsidies and their effect on consumer behavior, as well as the influence of the Quebec parental insurance plan on fathers’ parental leave decisions. She joined the MEI team in September 2022. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with family and friends—especially over a good board game.

Josh Dehaas is counsel with the Canadian Constitution Foundation. Josh earned his Juris Doctor from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he volunteered with Innocence Project and was president of Runnymede Society. Josh articled with the Ministry of Attorney General (Ontario) and was called to the bar in 2023. Prior to law school, Josh worked for nearly a decade in journalism including as a web writer for CTV News, as an online editor for Maclean’s, and as a freelance opinion writer for National Post. Josh holds a Master of Journalism degree from UBC and a degree in history from the University of Guelph.

Alex Hanham was born in Burlington, Ontario in 1970 to immigrant parents from England. He is a former competitive swimmer who at one point was ranked in the top ten sprint freestylers in Canada. His early career ranged from retail to television production and sales at Rogers. Alex and his wife Dr. Sylvia Murchison launched Medpoint in 2007 after reading David Foot’s book “Boom, bust and echo”. Seeing real life examples of failings in the healthcare system combined the oncoming aging demographic they felt a new model was desperately needed.

Medpoint was designed to provide executive health quality care but at an affordable price point for everyday Canadians. Starting from the humble beginnings of One family doctor, Medpoint has grown to 10 family doctors and 28 specialists. Today Medpoint has a number of locations in London, Ontario and will be opening a Burlington, Ontario location in November 2025. Medpoint follows 3 pillars of preventative health: disease screening, healthcare navigation and lifestyle modification. The goal is to open in 6 locations within the next 10 years in Ontario. Alex and Sylvia just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and have two daughters, Olivia and Tabitha, and 5 fur babies Lennox (boxer) and 4 cats Tiger, Ella, Rae and Lilly)

Sean Simpson is Senior Vice President with Ipsos, Canada’s largest market and public-opinion research company. He has been with Ipsos for eighteen years, and leads the public-opinion polling and reputation specializations in Canada. He holds both a Bachelor and Master’s Degree in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University, where he now teaches crash courses in questionnaire design and sampling. Sean is a primary spokesperson for Ipsos in Canada, leads Ipsos’ media relationship with Global News, and has been featured on CTV, CP24, CBC, the BBC and Global News. Along with Darrell Bricker, Sean was recently awarded by the news media for his contribution to broadcast journalism in Canada, and his research was won awards for its impact on public policy both in Canada and internationally.

Yanick Labrie, Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute, is a health economist and public-policy consultant living in Montreal. He currently serves as an adjunct economist at HEC Montreal’s Healthcare Management Hub. Mr. Labrie’s career in health policy spans more than fifteen years. He has worked as an economist at the Montreal Economic Institute, the Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organizations (CIRANO), and was a lecturer at HEC Montréal’s Institute of Applied Economics. He authored or co-authored more than 40 research papers and studies related to health care and pharmaceutical policies. Many of his articles have appeared in the Globe and Mail, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, La Presse, and Le Devoir, among other newspapers. He is frequently invited to participate in conferences and debates, and to comment on economic affairs in the media. He has been invited to give testimonies at numerous parliamentary commissions and working groups on a wide range of topics and in court cases as an expert witness. Yanick Labrie holds a master’s degree in economics from the Université de Montréal.

Dr. Pascal-André Vendittoli is an internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon, specializing in hip and knee joint replacement. A graduate of Université Laval, he completed specialized training in orthopaedic surgery in 2001 and pursued further subspecialty training in Australia and Italy. For more than two decades, he has been committed to providing exceptional, innovative care to improve his patients’ quality of life. Dr. Vendittoli is recognized as a pioneer in joint replacement surgery. He developed an optimized recovery protocol (ERAS) after hip and knee replacement that revolutionized Canadian practice. He has also contributed to the design of several implants and introduced innovative new surgical techniques. In 2018, he founded the Personalized Arthroplasty Society (https://www.personalizedarthroplasty.org/), an international organization dedicated to improving patient satisfaction through an approach that better reproduces individual anatomy. For these reasons, in 2024 he was awarded the Canadian Orthopaedic Association’s (COA) prestigious “Changemaker” award.

With over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, he has worked within two global organizations, recognized for their expertise in logistics, distribution, manufacturing, innovation, and artificial intelligence. Marc Sébastien is passionate about optimizing health systems and places the patient at the center of his priorities. He actively collaborates with various stakeholders in Quebec’s healthcare ecosystem, both at the governmental and institutional levels, to support the objectives of healthcare institutions and promote best practices as well as optimal clinical outcomes.

Dr. Karim Elayoubi is a family and emergency physician at the CISSS des Laurentides and co-owner of the Centre médical Argenteuil in Lachute, Quebec. He also serves as a Clinical Teaching Fellow at the University of Montréal’s Department of Family and Emergency Medicine. A graduate of Laval University (MD) and the University of Montréal (MSc Neuroscience), he previously completed residencies in neurosurgery and family medicine. Active in public policy, he is President of the Political Commission of the Conservative Party of Quebec and lead author of several policy papers and health reform proposals. An avid triathlete, he enjoys cycling and swimming.