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Canada’s national strategy on dementia must break the cycle of shame
Friday, March 29th, 2019
The recent federal budget contains a $50-million, five-year commitment for a strategy to support Canadians with cognitive decline, their caregivers and the health professionals who manage or research the disease. Details will be announced later this spring, and the Public Health Agency of Canada is to oversee the roll-out of the strategy. It had better be worth the wait.
Tags: budget, disabilities, ideology, mental Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Changes to Ontario’s (still) flawed autism program show Ford government can be pushed back
Sunday, March 24th, 2019
… these announced “enhancements,”… don’t truly fix this flawed program. This still amounts to a $331-million plan that does not meet the needs, especially for those on the high-needs end of the spectrum and girls who are who are often diagnosed later than boys so doubly suffer under the government’s age discrimination, which provides far less funding for kids over the age of six. But the changes are a sign that the Ford government is movable and open, albeit belatedly, to listening to experts.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, standard of living, youth
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
After Bill Morneau’s budget, Liberals should move on pharmacare
Wednesday, March 20th, 2019
The absence of comprehensive prescription drug coverage is the most glaring hole in our much-vaunted medicare system… Setting up a true national pharmacare program will be expensive and difficult, involving major push-back from the insurance industry and complex negotiations with the provinces. But the Liberals should not shy away from the challenge… they came into office promising to make real changes in the lives of ordinary people
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Don’t balance Ontario’s budget on the backs of vulnerable kids
Tuesday, March 19th, 2019
First he cut a planned welfare increase in half. He ended a guaranteed annual income pilot program halfway through its mandate. Then he ditched a planned $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage. Now his government is putting the province’s most vulnerable children in danger by putting budgetary pressures on children’s aid societies by changing up their funding formulas. So far that’s resulted in 26 child protection workers being laid off in the Brantford area.
Tags: budget, child care, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Ford government must fulfill Ontario’s promise to people with disabilities
Wednesday, March 13th, 2019
As it stands, 1.9 million Ontarians with disabilities are receiving the message that “you don’t belong here”… That should be viewed as a violation of both human and civil rights… investing in accessibility is both the right thing to do and also provides social and economic benefits for everyone, including the province’s increasing numbers of seniors… It’s time the government listened and acted.
Tags: disabilities, housing, ideology, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Put free menstrual products in all women’s washrooms. Period
Monday, March 11th, 2019
the city, school boards and the province should go further. They should strive for what’s known as “period equity” to normalize the conversation around menstruation and end the shame about what is, after all, a normal bodily function for half the population. To start, feminine hygiene products should be available for free not just in shelters and schools, but in workplaces and public spaces such as libraries, concert halls, sports arenas — and even privately owned stores and restaurants.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living, women
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Ontario shouldn’t delay on closing the wage gap
Saturday, March 9th, 2019
TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials March 7, 2019. By STAR EDITORIAL BOARD You’d think a law aimed at eliminating the gender wage gap in Ontario by allowing men and women doing similar work to compare their compensation would be a self-evidently good thing. And not just for women, who currently earn on average close to a […]
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The Trudeau government’s weak start on pharmacare
Saturday, March 9th, 2019
… its report contains no plan for pharmacare at all. It talks only about creating “building blocks” that could someday, maybe, contribute to a plan… It warns that “without reform, the system will soon be at the breaking point.” But neither the Trudeau government nor its advisory council has yet been willing to follow through to the obvious answer: universal national pharmacare.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The Liberal government shouldn’t go soft on pharmacare
Friday, March 1st, 2019
The benefits of a robust national pharmacare plan are substantial, both in improving health outcomes for millions of Canadians and reducing overall costs. The farther off that ideal the government goes, the fewer of those benefits we’ll see… Maintaining this inadequate patchwork costs everyone — governments, individuals and businesses — far more than it should. That’s not good for anyone, including those who enjoy good coverage now. As the Commons health committee put it: “In short, it will save money and lives.”
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The Ford government’s health reform is clear as mud
Friday, March 1st, 2019
The possibility that these teams, which might include doctors and hospitals, along with home care agencies and long-term care homes, could share one budget has the potential to deliver positive change. It would provide a clearer incentive to ensure that patients can access the right care in the right place, which generally costs far less than waiting for things to escalate into crisis. But if this is also the government’s way to shave dollars out of the health budget, that potential goes right out the window.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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