Archive for the ‘Health Debates’ Category

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B.C. to end drug decriminalization project, after ‘challenging’ three-year-experiment

Friday, January 16th, 2026

The program was pitched with the goal to “reduce stigma and fear of criminal prosecution that prevents people from reaching out for help, including medical assistance.” But a furor ensued over claims that the program was encouraging public drug use in playgrounds and other inappropriate places… we continue… adding treatment and recovery beds… intervention and supports… harm reduction services and undertaking everything that we can to save lives,”

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Canada doesn’t need another headline about doctors — it needs a plan

Monday, December 22nd, 2025

… more than 13,000 internationally trained physicians already live in Canada without any pathway to practise. Before adding thousands more, we should ask why so many already here cannot even be assessed… Canada’s problem is not a lack of potential physicians, but a failure of planning and foresight… We have the need. We have the talent. We have the institutions. But we have not connected the dots. It’s time to build the system Canadians deserve.

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4 things you need to know about health care in the federal budget

Monday, December 8th, 2025

Nearly $400 million in cuts to health… No plan to expand pharmacare… $5 billion for buildings – but no plan for health care workers… Cuts to refugee health care… “The affordability crisis is worsening, and Canadians need to know health care will be there when they need it most.

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Claims of a doctor shortage oversimplifies the issues with health care

Sunday, December 7th, 2025

Sustaining universal access to care will require governments to face the demographic reality driving medical demand; update revenues so financially secure boomers contribute in line with their costs; overhaul staffing incentives; and reinvest in the social and ecological foundations of health.

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Auditor’s report slams Ford government over health care

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025

Premier Doug Ford’s government is ailing on health care by failing to get more Ontarians a family doctor, ensure prompt appointments and oversee OHIP billings… “the ministry, in conjunction with Ontario Health, did not consistently have processes in place to plan and oversee programs and initiatives to improve patients’ access to primary care” the report said.

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Alberta is turning public hospitals into private businesses. Will Ontario follow?

Friday, November 28th, 2025

Ontarians who can afford it buy their way to faster care, while patients living paycheque to paycheque are left with even longer wait times as the public system is drained of staff by higher-paid private work. This is gradually shifting Ontario away from universal, equitable care toward a system where health justice hinges on income.

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Insiders Detail Ways Alberta’s For-Profit Surgery Push Is Failing

Monday, November 17th, 2025

“The evidence will tell you that those places with for-profit facilities don’t do more surgeries because they are using the same surgeons and the same anesthesiologists as in the public system,” … In Quebec and Ontario, where governments have released data in response to freedom of information requests, the surgeries performed in for-profit facilities have been shown to be “two or three times as expensive for such operations as cataracts and knees.”

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I was recruited to join a private health centre as a doctor. Here is why I said no

Tuesday, November 11th, 2025

Health care in Canada was built on solidarity, on the idea that access to care should be based on need, not ability to pay. Every doctor and nurse diverted to private-pay clinics is a resource taken away from the collective effort to rebuild universal primary care. There is no justification for pawning the family dishware, so that a lucky few can eat with silver spoons… primary care should be unhurried and personal. That vision doesn’t require $4,000 membership fees.

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Update the Canada Health Act

Monday, November 10th, 2025

After four decades, Canadians have a clearer sense of the system’s strengths and weaknesses. And the pandemic underscored both the value of universal health care and the urgent need for modernization… many changes could be achieved through more efficient organization, not just more spending. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants can often provide high-quality primary care less expensively than physicians, while expanded roles for pharmacists or midwives could also achieve savings and relieve some of the workload falling solely to family doctors.

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If a mine is a nation-building project, why not universal pharmacare? Inside the big push to get Mark Carney behind it

Monday, October 27th, 2025

The type of pharmacare most advocates want to see the policy evolve into is a universal, single-payer model, where governments would foot the majority of prescription drug costs for all Canadians… tens of billions of dollars Canada shells out on prescription medications annually would be better spent within the country’s borders, bolstering domestic production capacity… The gaps exposed by COVID-19 — the procurement chaos, supply chain woes, equipment shortages and expiring oversupply — make some believe pharmacare holds the potential to strengthen Canada’s autonomy and security, too.

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