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There’s no online substitute for a real university classroom
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
18 August 2012
The classroom experience – live – remains the heart of real education… By “education” I don’t mean training or even mere instruction… Online education of this sort may sound good – false economies often do… Something is always better than nothing, and I applaud colleagues who undertake such outreach. Still, don’t mistake what’s better than nothing for what’s best.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Ottawa needs to help mind the health gap
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
15 August 2012
Through improvements to housing, water quality, education and other social services, Ottawa could help lessen the incidence of costly illnesses such as adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, depression and stroke – ultimately saving the system money. Less direct, but also important, is the federal government’s role in public health, by which it can try to counterbalance some of the underlying factors in the socioeconomic gap.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
New CMA President: A view shaped by best and worst of care
Sunday, August 26th, 2012
15 August 2012
Dr. Reid said that the health-care system has become so big and complex that “we sometimes stray from what it is to be a healer”… the patient voice and the patient experience and the patient perspective has been so far from people’s minds for such a long time that it will take time for things to change… physicians face big challenges, including crushing workloads, scarce resources and loss of autonomy, but they cannot allow themselves to lose their identity as physicians and their primordial duty to patients. “Patient-centred culture does not cost a penny more”
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
‘Real inequalities’ a threat to Medicare’s mission, incoming CMA chief says
Saturday, August 25th, 2012
12 August 2012
“We need equitable distribution of health care resources and services so that… everyone has equal access to important health-care services,” Dr. Reid said. Beyond pushing for universal access to essential medical care, she said she will use the CMA presidency to raise awareness about the role of the socio-economic determinants of health, and the need to focus on marginalized groups like aboriginal people, those with mental illness and the isolated elderly.
Tags: economy, featured, Health, ideology, Indigenous, mental Health, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Public needs improved access to Canadian courts, chief justice says
Saturday, August 25th, 2012
11 August 2012
The chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court says the legal system risks a loss of public faith unless barriers to public access to the courts, especially for civil matters, are lowered… “Being able to access justice is fundamental to the rule of law. If people decide they can’t get justice, they will have less respect for the law”… the issue is especially relevant to civil courts, where there are not enough judges, lawyers are expensive… and there are delays.
Tags: crime prevention, ideology, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Delivery System | No Comments »
First Nations want property rights, but on our own terms
Friday, August 24th, 2012
10 August 2012
First Nations are in a period of nation-building or rebuilding, taking back control of our lives after years of colonial rule and being governed as wards of the state by Canada under the Indian Act. Our nations are considering how they govern themselves (their core institutions of government) and what they govern (their jurisdictions). Central to this discussion is determining an appropriate system of land tenure that reflects a particular nation’s culture and traditions while also supporting the development of an economy.
Tags: economy, featured, housing, ideology, Indigenous, rights
Posted in Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Changing postsecondary education must be a collective process
Friday, August 24th, 2012
9 August 2012
It is clear that the current system of publicly funded postsecondary education is in trouble. (In fact, the term now in use for universities and colleges is “publicly assisted,” since the share of operating revenues provided by provincial grants has shrunk to less than half of total revenues.) In Ontario, as enrolment numbers have dramatically expanded over the past decade, the hiring of faculty has not kept pace… Apart from internal consultations, we all need to listen carefully to the most important constituency here: students… There are plenty of interesting ideas for reform.
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
Should you stay at home or pay for child care?
Thursday, August 23rd, 2012
7 August 2012
A family paying $600 a month for daycare needs to cover an annual bill of $7,200, before taxes… parents in big cities are likely grappling with monthly bills that are significantly higher… “If the lowest-income spouse is not making more than $30,000, I don’t see how it can be worthwhile to pay that kind of money.”… In 1976, 46.4 per cent of mothers with a youngest child aged 6 to 17 were employed. By 2012, that number had surged to 79.3 per cent.
Tags: child care, standard of living, women
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Fearing advocacy, Ottawa rejects HIV/AIDS funding proposals
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012
6 August 2012
The HIV/AIDS Legal Network, whose mission is to promote the human rights of people living with or at risk of contracting the virus, has received a significant portion of its funding from Ottawa over its 20-year existence. But in this year’s round of funding applications, 16 of its 20 proposals were rebuffed. Fifteen of those were rejected citing an identical reason: “It was unclear from the details provided in the proposal whether the resource would be used for advocacy purposes, which is ineligible for funding,”
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, mental Health, participation, rights, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
For better cures, let’s do science differently
Saturday, August 18th, 2012
6 August 2012
How do we address our country’s astonishing need for improved diagnoses, treatments and cures for dementia given the snail-like pace with which current research practices deliver benefits to patients and spawn new companies and, with them, new jobs. The answer is by doing science differently… the consortium’s model emphasizes the support of platforms (e.g., imaging, genetics) used by researchers from different institutions. The end result: co-ordinated efforts, more patients in studies and novel investigations both within and across diseases.
Tags: budget, mental Health, participation, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
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