Targeted Pharmacare Reforms Could Deliver Access Without a $40 Billion Price Tag
Thursday, September 18th, 2025
With 97 percent of Canadians already having access to some form of drug coverage, a new Conference Report by the C.D. Howe Institute finds that a fiscally responsible approach to universal pharmacare should focus on closing gaps in prescription drug coverage rather than replacing plans with a single-payer system.
Tags: budget, Health, participation, pharmaceutical, privatization
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Immigration Policy Still in Need of a Course Correction
Tuesday, September 16th, 2025
Immigration policy should raise average human capital, rather than focusing narrowly on filling short-term labour market gaps… or meeting non-economic objectives… Policy should also be transparent, predictable, and oriented toward long-term prosperity, ensuring that economic immigrants have strong skills, earnings potential, and integration prospects.
Tags: economy, immigration, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Why the Capital Gains Tax Increase Should Not See the Light of Day
Thursday, June 5th, 2025
The planned measure to increase the capital gains inclusion rate… would create a triple threat: harming Canadian businesses, discouraging investment, and penalizing middle-income Canadians… – Canada’s capital stock would decline by $127 billion, GDP would fall by nearly $90 billion, and real per-capita GDP would drop by 3 percent. Further, employment would decline by 414,000 jobs, which would raise unemployment from 1.5 million to 1.9 million workers.
Tags: economy, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Job Creation Falls Behind Rapid Population Growth
Thursday, June 5th, 2025
Canada’s labour market faces mounting pressures that cannot be fixed merely by adding more workers… “We cannot afford to leave talent on the sidelines – whether it’s older workers retiring too soon or immigrants struggling to use their skills,”… the country’s most acute demographic challenges [include] rapidly aging populations, lower workforce participation among seniors, high unemployment, and labour mismatches compounding regional disparities… “If we don’t act now, these gaps will only widen.”
Tags: economy, immigration, participation, pensions
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
The Nurse Practitioner Answer to the Primary Care Crisis
Sunday, October 27th, 2024
Another factor [to explain Canadians’ seemingly sudden disenchantment with their healthcare system]may be the reluctance of provincial governments to undertake major institutional reforms. Since the 1990s, when serious budget deficits necessitated action, most provinces have been reluctant to provoke opposition from powerful interest groups, in particular physicians’ associations… As a result of this opposition, some NPs are underemployed in rural and remote communities or underutilized in urban hospitals…
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »
There are Better Ways to Spend $3 Billion on Seniors than Boosting OAS
Monday, October 7th, 2024
If $3 billion per year were spent on seniors, where would it be best spent: Income security, supports, services or residential and nursing care? And if income security turns out to be the answer to that question, then why via OAS, which is paid to 7 million Canadian seniors? Should it not instead be the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), which is targeted towards to Canada’s 2.2 million lowest income seniors almost all of whom really do struggle to make ends meet?
Tags: budget, economy, poverty, Seniors
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Fully Indexing Ontario Social Assistance is Long Overdue
Monday, October 7th, 2024
October 1 was the six-year anniversary of the last inflation adjustment for Ontario’s social assistance payments. Their real value has steadily eroded ever since, made worse by inflation’s recent return… The lack of indexation of Ontario social assistance benefit levels has eroded the value of these benefits significantly and contributed to rising homelessness, hunger, and demand for social and health services. It is time to introduce a more economically efficient and fairer way of adjusting these benefits on a regular basis.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Addressing the Crisis in Access to Primary to Primary Care: A Targeted Approach
Sunday, September 29th, 2024
… a major cause for the dysfunction is the reluctance of provincial governments to undertake institutional reforms, for fear of provoking interest groups – particularly physicians’ organizations. The provinces have not made major changes to their health delivery systems since forced to do so by the deficit crises of the 1990s… The author recommends… an aggressive increase in the number of nurse practitioners working in community primary care, usually in multi-discipline clinics; and… rostering patients and expanding capitation in multi-discipline clinics.
Tags: featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
The Doctor Dilemma: Improving Primary Care Access in Canada
Monday, May 27th, 2024
Addressing the primary care access gap involves five strategies… : 1) expanding the number of training positions and filling the unfilled residency spots with international medical graduates; 2) reducing the administrative burden for family physicians; 3) providing alternate payment models; 4) expanding the scope of practice of other primary care providers; and 5) expanding team-based models of care.
Tags: Health, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Seniors’ Care Surge will require Smart Policies
Tuesday, April 9th, 2024
Among the key recommendations: (i) provinces should invest in public home and community care while also considering mechanisms to expand the private provision of these services; (ii) Ontario and other provinces should consider providing a refundable tax credit for senior renters to access retirement homes and supportive services and; (iii) current capacity and fiscal constraints mean that expanding both publicly and privately funded options will be necessary.
Tags: budget, disabilities, housing, Seniors, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
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