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What makes Canada, Canada? A question that is being asked more regularly as talk of “the 51st state” and other threats to our sovereignty come up again and again.

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Nine times out of 10 the answer I hear is: health care. Canadians are deeply proud of our universal medicare system. The idea that in Canada we care for each other contrasts us with our neighbours to the south. Public health care defines us as a nation.

Which means it should absolutely be treated as a “nation-building project” in need of attention. The kind of project that our new prime minister talks about regularly these days.

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My hope is that as our federal, provincial and........

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