Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
Black women say they’re at risk due to unequal health care. The Ford government is being urged to act
Thursday, May 7th, 2026
… there’s a lack of data about the experiences of Black women and girls in Canada when accessing health-care… A health system ill-equipped to provide a basic standard of care for a community group that already disproportionately faces higher rates of certain chronic illnesses and medical conditions could lead to worse health outcomes and higher mortality… The top barriers… were long wait times and a lack of culturally competent health providers.
Tags: Education, Health, multiculturalism, women
Posted in Health Debates | 21 Comments »
Coercion isn’t care, and new laws that enforce treatment and confinement are dangerous
Monday, April 27th, 2026
Coercion is articulated as care and involuntary treatment is presented not as a restriction of liberty but as a necessary response to incapacity and risk. This appeal to compassion functions as a unifying political language, enabling cross-partisan support despite differing ideological stances. By portraying these policies as pragmatic, humane and long overdue, policymakers limit opposition. They also reconfigure the boundaries of acceptable state intervention…
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, rights
Posted in Health Policy Context | 4 Comments »
Why is alcohol use declining in Canada?
Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
Based on alcohol sales data… the decline appears to be real… Over time, reductions in consumption should translate into gains for public health and savings for the health-care system and taxpayers, as alcohol-related costs exceed tax revenues. While reductions in alcohol sales adversely affect alcohol-related industries, reallocating dollars spent on alcohol benefits other sectors of the economy.
Tags: Health
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Do trade deals put public health care up for sale?
Wednesday, April 1st, 2026
… the introduction of a parallel, private-pay system in Alberta based on private health insurance and out-of-pocket payment represents a fundamental change to Canada’s public health care system. Alberta would have a difficult time restricting the newly created market to Canadian firms, even if the government wanted to, and once foreign investors become entrenched, they will benefit from the full force of Canada’s international trade obligations.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Policy Context | 9 Comments »
Ontario is closing its supervised consumption sites, calling them a failure. So what counts as ‘success?’
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
Supervised consumption sites are not beyond criticism: they can be better designed, better integrated and more responsive to the communities that host them. But improving them requires better policy, not selective evidence and site closures… Adding treatment capacity does not require removing the safety net beneath it.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | 6 Comments »
Hospitals get $1.1B infusion from Ford government as critics warn it’s not enough
Saturday, March 28th, 2026
Ontario’s public hospitals are getting a $1.1-billion boost in Thursday’s budget amid warnings the extra money will barely cover deficits as they struggle to improve patient wait times… Putting the system on a sound financial footing would require a cash infusion of $2.7 billion… “Costs for the sector have been rising by about six per cent per year, primarily due to Ontario’s growing population, its aging population and inflation, in general”…
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
What’s the future of virtual health care in Ontario? Despite funding cutback, it may have taken root
Monday, March 23rd, 2026
“Physicians aren’t able to provide the same level of care at a 50 per cent reduced rate,” Cherniak says. Still, three years after Ontario’s cutback, virtual care is catching on… even without doctors: Ontario Health’s annual report from a year ago cites as a highlight that more than 31,800 patients “connected to nurse practitioners through regional virtual urgent care clinics, with only four per cent referred to emergency departments.”
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario to miss federal deadline for publicly funding nurse practitioners
Monday, March 23rd, 2026
Health Minister Sylvia Jones pushed the federal government years ago to close what she called a loophole in the Canada Health Act that allowed some nurse practitioner clinics in the province to charge patients fees for primary care… The government has done that… It has given provinces and territories the April 1 deadline — but Ontario won’t be ready.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, privatization
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ford government to end funding for supervised consumption sites, advocates say — including two in Toronto
Thursday, March 19th, 2026
… the province is providing the sites 90 days’ notice “in order to support an orderly transition for clients so they can access other community health services… The sites are being asked to provide a plan for how they will transition clients to other community health services and realign their services to promote rehabilitation.
Tags: ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Delivery System | 8 Comments »
I’m a doctor. Here are five overlooked ways the Ontario government is making our ERs more crowded, not less
Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
When Doug Ford was elected premier in 2018, he promised to “end hallway medicine.” But by 2024, the problem had doubled to some 2,000 Ontarians lying on stretchers in hospital hallways… Good health is impossible without stable housing… Shutting down all supervised consumption sites… Underfunded nursing… Expanding for‑profit medicine… [and] Neglecting home care and keeping people in hospital beds
Tags: economy, featured, Health, Home Care, housing, privatization
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
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