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Background: Through medicare, residents in Canada are entitled to medically necessary physician services without paying out of pocket, but still many people struggle to access primary care. We conducted a survey to explore people's experience with and priorities for primary care. Methods: We conducted an online, bilingual survey of adults in Canada in fall 2022. We distributed an anonymous link through diverse channels and a closed link to 122 053 people via a national public opinion firm. We weighted completed responses to mirror Canada's population and adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics using regression models. Results: We analyzed 9279 completed surveys (5.9% response rate via closed link). More than one-fifth of respondents (21.8%) reported having no primary care clinician, and among those who did, 34.5% reported getting a same or next-day appointment for urgent issues. Of respondents, 89.4% expressed comfort seeing another team member if their doctor recommended it, but only 35.9%, 9.5%, and 12.4% reported that their practice had a nurse, social worker, or pharmacist, respectively. The primary care attribute that mattered most was having a clinician who 'knows me as a person and considers all the factors that affect my health.' After we adjusted for respondent characteristics, people in Quebec, the Atlantic region, and British Columbia had lower odds of reporting a primary care clinician than people in Ontario (adjusted odds ratio 0.30, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively; p < 0.001). We also observed large provincial variations in timely access, interprofessional care, and walk-in clinic use. Interpretation: More than 1 in 5 respondents did not have access to primary care, with large variation by province. Reforms should strive to expand access to relationship-based, longitudinal care in a team setting., Research over decades has shown that health systems with strong primary care have better health outcomes, better equity in outcomes, and lower costs. (1,2) Yet, worldwide, countries have struggled with [...]

The article discusses the 2011 Canadian election held on May 2, 2011, with particular focus on issues tackled in the election by political parties and candidates and the division between Quebec and the rest of Canada. It explores the success of the New Democratic Party (NDP), and the Conservative Party and the defeat of the Liberals and the Bloc Québécois. It mentions issues such as the place of Quebec in the Canadian constitution and the role of the privates sector in health care.