A group of doctors from across Canada is calling on the Canadian Medical Association to support reforms that would strengthen Canada's public health-care system.

"Canadian doctors believe in the fundamentals of access based on need, not on the ability to pay," said Dr. Danielle Martin, who heads the group Canadian Doctors for Medicare.

Discussions about reforms to the health-care system are expected to dominate the CMA's annual meeting, which began in Montreal on Monday.

Martin said reforms must be discussed, citing problems like long wait times for certain procedures and difficulties that many Canadians face in finding a family doctor.

"It's important to acknowledge that there are lots of reforms that are needed in the system," she said in a phone interview Sunday. "No one in our organization is interested in defending the status quo. We've got some real problems in our health care system."

It's also important for Canadians not to be passive in their support for public health care, Martin added.

"We need to be constantly advocating for the improvement of the public system," she said.

Quebec physicians also released a declaration on Sunday refuting that the costs of the public system are spiralling out of control. They said a shift to a private system of funding and health-care delivery would adversely affect the cost, efficiency, quality, and accessibility of the current system.

Georges Levesque is a Quebec emergency physician.

"We are calling on elected officials within the CMA and governments to respond to the evidence, and to the real needs of Canadians, and promote reforms within the public health care system," he said.