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Young criminals in Canada victims of federal legislation
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Jul. 18, 2011
Canada incarcerates more convicted youth than almost any similarly industrialized country. And new federal crime legislation is poised to drive those numbers higher, even though imprisoned teens are statistically less likely to get jobs after they’re released and, if anything, are more likely to reoffend. Years after enacting laws that have been successful in reducing youth incarceration rates, Canada still sends five times more of its convicted teens into custody than England and Wales… At the crux of the debate is how to treat Canada’s youngest criminals
Tags: corrections, crime prevention, ideology, youth
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
It’s Conservatives who changed to fit Canada
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul. 16, 2011
True, roughly three-fifths of Canadians did not vote Conservative in the last election. True, too, would be that Mr. Harper ran the opposite of a conservative fiscal policy, having been a big spender from his first day in office… The Conservatives spent money before and during the recession as if governing from the centre-left… In this, they read their electorate correctly, since, for all the talk about Canadians moving in a conservative direction, most of them opposed any reduction in the ambit of government.
Tags: budget, ideology
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
The disproportionate fees for cataract surgery
Sunday, July 17th, 2011
Jul. 15, 2011
When a surgery becomes quicker, less intense and safer, it’s fair to consider a fee reduction, especially in a publicly funded health-care system where value for money and sustainability are inextricably linked… Overpriced cataract surgery highlights why the fee-for-service system, where doctors are paid for each procedure they do, should be replaced with a mixed payment system… what’s really needed is a new way to compensate doctors that is fair and equitable, and helps sustain the public health-care system for decades to come.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Patient-centred care: It’s about relationships
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Jul. 13, 2011
The Canadian Medical Association helpfully launched the debate about renewing the Canada Health Accord in 2014 with its Health Care Transformation in Canada policy document, published around this time last year… it recommended a shift in focus from discrete services, such as surgeries, to “patient-centred care.” I agree, with one qualification. It should be patient-relationship-centred care. The willingness to enter and sustain a relationship with the patient is crucial… The key is getting people to take responsibility for their recovery, and that’s hard.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
… superbug outbreak abates, but enemy still lurks
Thursday, July 14th, 2011
Jul. 14, 2011
… handwashing is necessary for health-care workers, patients and visitors. But in Canada, we too often skimp on support staff like janitors. It’s not enough, however, to throw bodies with mops into the equation: In health care, everything should be evidence-based… Just as important as preventing the spread of pathogens is minimizing patient susceptibility… There is a lot of evidence that antibiotics are overused… But more than anything.. a change of attitude is needed. We need to empower patients and their families with basic information.
Tags: Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Public schools cannot be places of prayer
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul. 08, 2011
The 300 students who pray in the cafeteria actually have a nearby mosque they could pray at, and letting them do so during the school day would be a reasonable accommodation… So the issue, then, is not really accommodation of belief; instead, the school is accommodating the young people’s reluctance to return. Religious groups are free, in a democratic society, to challenge dominant ideas of equality, but the schools should not allot them space, on school time, to do so.
Tags: multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Patients should be at centre of health services
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
Jul. 10, 2011
Medicare is built around those who provide care – doctors and nurses – not those who receive it. With an aging population, every Canadian hospital must move quickly to revolutionize its health services, with patients at the centre. If not, they should face a cut in public funds. Most patients with multiple medical problems today are elderly… But that cost should not include disjointed medical care, with numerous specialists in different locations and no one seemingly in charge… creating a logjam for hospitals, cancelled operations and wasted resources.
Tags: budget, Health, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Where is its mind? What the battle over the ‘bible’ says about psychiatry
Sunday, July 10th, 2011
Jul. 10, 2011
… health-insurance companies typically favour DSM-driven medications over talk therapy… But in the longer term… disorders such as depression are more cheaply and just as effectively treated with talk therapy, given the potential consequences of so many people taking so many serious drugs… The obsessive thoroughness of DSM-5’s editors results in casting a wider diagnostic net… Even as the DSM tries to be more inclusive and “dimensional,” it runs the risk of sucking millions of merely unhappy and eccentric souls into the ranks of the mentally disturbed, at vast cost.
Tags: disabilities, featured, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | 2 Comments »
There are bigger threats to our fragile recovery than the postal dispute
Monday, July 4th, 2011
Jul. 04, 2011
The government has indicated its willingness to interfere in normal contractual relationships between private parties, even dictating contractual outcomes, in the interests of preserving Canada’s economic momentum… Why is the government, so quick to intervene to suppress compensation for the humble folks who deliver our mail, standing on the sidelines while powerful people enrich themselves at the expense of our national prosperity? Perhaps it’s not the economy they’re concerned with after all.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Pathways to Education expanding with $28.5-million from Ontario
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Jun. 27, 2011
An inner-city education program that is achieving marked success in lowering the dropout rate for disadvantaged high-school students is expanding to new communities with the help of a fresh infusion of government funding. Pathways to Education Canada will receive $28.5-million over three years from the Ontario government to help more students in low-income communities graduate from high school and go on to college, university or a trade.
Tags: participation, poverty, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
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