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Five decades in the making, our national pharmacare still has a long way to go
Friday, June 14th, 2019
Canada should take a leap forward here and look to include in a national formulary not only with the most important medicines, but the most important medical devices. The secret sauce in all of this will be smart, strategic negotiations on behalf of all Canadians with drug and device manufacturers to reward real breakthroughs and the backbone to say no to coverage for drugs and devices that just don’t deliver on value for money.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Putting values into practice on pharmacare will come at a cost
Friday, June 14th, 2019
The catch is that there would be a massive shift of drug costs from private plans to public plans, an “incremental public cost” of $15.3-billion… Practically, it also means the feds would have to raise taxes by at least $15-billion a year. That, not poor values, is the single biggest impediment to national pharmacare. The other related hurdle is that a national plan would require an unprecedented level of federal-provincial-territorial co-operation.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living, tax
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The genetics of genocide: I’m healing so my future daughter doesn’t have to
Friday, June 7th, 2019
Genocide? In Canada? Maybe your first instinct is to deny it. I challenge you to hear the truth in it. All of my relatives already know this to be true because of what we’ve experienced. We’re intimately aware of the reality that Canada doesn’t want us to exist… When you remove women from our communities, or disenfranchise them, the seeds of genocide are planted. Unlike a massacre, with genocide you don’t really see the bloodshed. Instead there is just loss, and it’s usually invisible to those committing it – or worse, denied.
Tags: Indigenous, participation, rights, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Ontario moves to transfer recycling costs from cities to waste-producing companies
Friday, June 7th, 2019
Ontario is moving to force large food retailers and product manufacturers to pay the full cost of recycling, in a major shakeup aimed at reducing the amount of plastic waste in the environment… Ontario would join British Columbia as the only other province where large food retailers and consumer packaged-goods companies fully cover recycling costs, a system known as extended producer responsibility, or EPR.
Tags: economy, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
The MMIWG report was searing and important, marred only by its inaccurate genocide charge
Wednesday, June 5th, 2019
… the commissioners’ otherwise excellent report was marred by the gratuitous charge that Canada has committed, and continues to commit, genocide against its Indigenous populations. Not cultural genocide, a concept that is broadly accepted today with reference to the attempted obliteration of aboriginal culture in the Indian Residential Schools, but all-out genocide – without qualification… the National Inquiry… conflated the recent murders of women and girls with the entirety of the Indigenous experience in Canada
Tags: crime prevention, featured, ideology, Indigenous, jurisdiction, women
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Is beer in corner stores bad for our health?
Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
One thing that is clear from research is that the greatest impact on alcohol consumption comes from pricing policies. The cheaper alcohol is, the more people consume. Yet we don’t talk about the benefits of high taxes or floor prices. That’s why buck-a-beer policies and rhetoric should concern us much more than where products are sold.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Canadians frustrated with federation, but still support equalization payments to poorer provinces
Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
Despite these concerns, the survey found that three-quarters of Canadians support the equalization program, while 16 per cent are opposed… A majority of Canadians – 55 per cent – said they would prefer that their provincial leaders try to find a balance between its own economic interest and other parts of Canada, even if it means compromising. Only 31 per cent said they would prefer that a province or territory put its economic interests first.
Tags: economy, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Bedlam over beds: We can no longer ignore our long-term-care crisis
Tuesday, May 28th, 2019
In Ontario … the wait list for long-term care is a staggering 34,000 people… Long-term care is a $70-billion-a-year business but consumers – and government in particular – can be parsimonious in what they are willing to pay to care for individuals… Far too many Canadians learn the hard way that long-term care is not only costly, but there isn’t much government support… most long-term care is paid out-of-pocket.
Tags: housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario eliminates Indigenous Culture Fund as government cuts millions of dollars in arts funding
Monday, May 27th, 2019
Arts sector support is cut from 18.5 million dollars to 6.5 million, and the Ontario Arts Council, which awards grants, is receiving 10 million dollars less from the government this year. Five million dollars of that comes from axing an Indigenous Culture Fund… Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler says the arts, including music and storytelling, are a very important part of Indigenous culture, and cutting this fund sends a terrible message.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, Indigenous, multiculturalism
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
The economy is on the rise. So why aren’t we getting happier?
Saturday, May 25th, 2019
In an age when the global economy keeps growing at a steady pace and poverty keeps falling, why isn’t humanity getting happier? … once essential needs are met, it’s other factors, such as the strength of community bonds and social trust, that often matter most… it’s high time to start thinking about new ways of assessing social progress… Canada, as a country, has yet to start thinking seriously about new benchmarks and measures
Tags: economy, featured, ideology
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
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