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Supporting dementia patients and caregivers is a moral imperative

Tuesday, September 13th, 2022

On average, caregivers provided 26 care hours a week… The toll this takes on caregivers is profound… 45 per cent of caregivers exhibit symptoms of distress. And 21 per cent say they’re unable to continue their care duties due to stress.  And we have only seen the tip of the iceberg… all levels of government must help to make delaying dementia a reality.

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Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »


Reforming our approach to drugs

Sunday, August 21st, 2022

… while study after study confirms that criminalization has no effect on drug usage rates, it has created a vast transnational network of organized crime… the federal government’s expert task force last year recommended an end to our century-long experiment with prohibition. As its “core priority,” the force recommended Canada “immediately develop and implement a single public health framework with specific regulations for all psychoactive substances, including currently illegal drugs as well as alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.”

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Time for Doug Ford government to act on health care crisis

Thursday, August 4th, 2022

In times of crisis, leadership carries a particular responsibility. It is about showing up, demonstrating competence and shoring up confidence. It’s about accountability, being seen to be in charge, about restoring trust when trust is wavering… It’s time the Ford government gave evidence of being appropriately seized by the urgency of the health-care crisis and with taking responsibility for addressing public anxiety about it.

Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


An unhealthy shortage of family doctor

Monday, August 1st, 2022

There is no single fix to the stresses Canada’s health-care system is facing. But efforts that bolster the ranks of family doctors — such as easing the administrative burdens that detract from patient care and encouraging the expansion of family medicine teams — hold the promise of improving our collective health.

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Healthcare needs collaboration, not finger-pointing

Monday, July 18th, 2022

The health-care crisis is different in nature from the pandemic, but alike in urgency. As such, it is a challenge of sufficient scale and complexity to be addressed at the first ministers’ level. This is especially true when [negotiating] pharmacare and national dental care programs… Collaboration on those files and addressing the crisis must involve more than cheque-writing that pours more money into systems proving inefficient. It must involve systemic and structural reforms to help make the healthcare system more sustainable – and easily accessible.

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Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Ottawa should stop clawbacks of pandemic benefits

Sunday, June 26th, 2022

Groups such as Campaign 2000, which advocates to eliminate child and family poverty, have… pressed the federal government to ensure that benefits and refundable tax credits such as the Canada Child Benefit are not clawed back and that any lost benefits are restored. (Ottawa did act to restore Guaranteed Income Supplement payments that had been reduced or eliminated because of pandemic benefits.)

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Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »


B.C. and Ottawa are showing leadership in fighting the scourge of drug overdoses

Tuesday, June 7th, 2022

The exemption, which is authorized by the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, will decriminalize possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy. Toronto has applied for a similar exemption, and the feds ought to approve it now… there’s abundant evidence that drug prohibition has little effect on how many people use drugs but plays a significant role in making an already risky activity even riskier.

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Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »


Forget motives. The Trudeau government is getting it right on gun control

Thursday, June 2nd, 2022

… it plans to introduce a national handgun “freeze” — not a ban — that will bar future sales, purchases, transfers and importation of handguns by anyone across the country… It would cap the number of handguns held legally by Canadians and prevent them from being sold or otherwise moved around. Over time it would reduce the number of legal guns that find their way into the illegal market and end up being used in crimes…

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »


Energy companies profits are through the roof. They should share the wealth

Wednesday, May 18th, 2022

… the government backstopped the financial sector through the pandemic with billions of tax dollars that kept incomes up and the banks’ customers solvent. They benefited from government support, and now it’s time to pay some back… The energy companies are in a similar situation… The government ought to tax away some of the enormous profits pouring into the energy companies and use that money to support those being hit hardest.

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The freedom of some not be vaxxed undermines the freedom of everyone else

Tuesday, April 26th, 2022

… “freedom” cuts many ways. And in particular, it shows that the freedom exercised by some not to shoulder the collective responsibility of vaccination puts in danger the freedom of many others to live healthy lives. In some cases, tragically, to live at all.

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Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


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