Health Policy Off Script! Unfiltered Conversations about the Canadian Health System

Canada's health system is stuck in a cycle of crisis and recycled solutions. "Overcoming Policy Roadblocks" confronts the erosion of the principles of healthcare policy inaction through fearless, evidence-informed episodes. Featuring candid interviews with policymakers, practitioners, thought leaders and patients, each thematic episode unpacks barriers to progress and proposes realistic paths forward. It’s time for a new conversation—one that empowers the audience to be mad and motivated instead of sad and demoralized. Tune in for unvarnished insight, and a roadmap to a better system.

This season will focus on why health policy is important and falling behind. Where do our hosts think we should focus and set priorities. How is policy really developed, debated, implemented or shelved and who is accountable? Impacts on primary care and family medicine. Shaping and developing our health workforce. Can private care share space in the public space?

We have a problem and we know we need to transform the system, but we will not, or can not do it.

Why? Canada's health system is at a breaking point! This series will be fearless, evidence-informed, and emotionally engaging, Ivy, Dale and Steven will jump-start the conversation that could finally move us from talk to action.

Episodes:

• Episode 1: Why this Podcast? How is it Different? June 1, 2026

• Episode 2: Status Quo is Not an Option! June 1, 2026

• Episode 3: How it All Broke | Featuring Kelly Lamrock. June 1, 2026

• Episode 4: Count on Ability | Featuring Janet Davidson. June 8, 2026

• Episode 5: Health Workforce - What's the Plan? | Featuring Arthur Sweetman. June 15, 2026

• Episode 6:

• Episode 7:

• Episode 8:

• Episode 9:

• Episode 10:

Sponsorship Opportunities

Information on sposorship for honest, compelling conversations that appeal to policymakers, clinicians, researchers, leaders, and engaged citizens.

Canada's Health Policy Voices:

Dale McMurchy is an independent health policy consultant and researcher based in Ontario, Canada. With over two decades of experience, specializing in policy, planning, strategy, research, evaluation, and quality improvement across primary healthcare, chronic disease prevention, mental health and addictions, public health, and healthy child development.

Dale has held senior roles with organizations such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), PricewaterhouseCoopers/IBM, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and has worked internationally as a health economist in South Africa. Through her firm, Dale McMurchy Consulting Inc., she provides strategic guidance to governments, non-profits, and academic institutions, advancing innovative approaches to health system improvement and equity.

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa and the University Research Chair in Gender, Diversity and the Professions. She leads the Canadian Health Workforce Network, the Empowering Women Leaders in Health initiative and co-leads the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation project. Ivy has garnered an international reputation for her research on the health workforce, particularly from a gender lens. Past projects have examined the migration and integration of health workers from a comparative perspective and on primary and maternity care workforce issues. Recent projects focus on care relationships in home and long term care, and on psychological health and safety of professional workers.

Ivy has been a consultant to various provincial Ministries of Health in Canada, to Health Canada, the pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the OECD and to the World Health Organization. Board experience includes the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, the Institute of Health Services and Policy Research at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the international journal, Human Resources for Health. She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in September 2016 and received the 2016/17 University of Ottawa Award for Excellence in Research.

Steven Lewis is a health policy and research consultant in Vancouver, Canada. Prior to resuming a fulltime consulting practice he headed a health research granting agency and spent 7 years as CEO of the Health Services Utilization and Research Commission in Saskatchewan. He has been an Adjunct Professor in the FHS since 2007, when he taught a graduate class in health policy.

Steven served on the National Forum on Health, the Governing Council of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Saskatchewan Health Quality Council, and the Health Council of Canada. He has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including the Journal of Health Services and Policy Research, Healthcare Policy, and Healthcare Papers. He writes and speaks frequently on topics such as the politics of healthcare, quality improvement, professional regulation, and equity in health and healthcare. He is currently a Board member and Treasurer of the Mid-Main Community Health Centre.