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Is it really an ER when it opens and closes constantly, or is it just a ‘room’?

Friday, August 12th, 2022

Ontario will “take bold action.” What else could this mean but the right-wing dream that never dies: privatizing public health care, on the model of highly profitable long-term-care homes… You can sense a new zeitgeist today in the rejection of neo-liberal globalization by the same parties in the U.S., U.K. and Canada that ushered it in. And in an openness to larger public activity on COVID and climate change.

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Ontario should ditch any plans to further privatize health care. It just doesn’t work — and usually makes matters worse

Friday, August 12th, 2022

First, the government should ditch any plans to further privatize the system… That’s because it benefits not those who need health care, but those who can pay the handsome user fees required by what in effect is two-tier health care. Second, the government would be wise to view this crisis as an opportunity — a chance to rationalize and expand a public system that by and large does work.

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Ford government plans more low wages for women health care workers

Friday, August 12th, 2022

Ontario continues to pursue a low-wage strategy for the female health care workforce, a strategy that is quickly demolishing health care in Ontario… Everywhere, women health-care workers are quitting. It is even worse in the home care sector. We have had enough of the violence, the irregular work weeks, the unpaid time between clients, the lack of pensions, and the low wages.

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Non-stop political spin is derailing serious debate over schools

Tuesday, August 9th, 2022

The 2020 reopening plan included “up to $1.3 billion in supports for the education sector.” But mostly it wasn’t new money from the province. It came from school board reserves. It came from the federal government… taking inflation and enrolment into account, school boards received $1.6 billion less for the 2021-22 school year than they did in 2017-18. That’s the equivalent of $800 less per student. The average-size secondary school had to make do with $600,000 less.

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Ford government plans more low wages for women health care workers

Tuesday, August 9th, 2022

We are facing a major staffing crisis in health care and nowhere more so than in home care. Yet this government continues to pursue a low-wage strategy for the female health care workforce, a strategy that is quickly demolishing health care in Ontario.  We need to end the war on women health care workers. We need a government that can help make home care an attractive place to work — not a worse place to work. 

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‘On the cusp of collapsing’: The crisis in our emergency departments is a consequence of poor public policy

Tuesday, August 9th, 2022

For several years, Ontario has been facing parallel compounding issues of funding cuts to health care, especially in the community, and devaluation of health-care workers, the largest group of which are nurses. It seems these issues have finally converged to create the perfect storm of our present crisis. We need a systemic solution that focuses less on infrastructure and more on the people working within it; more beds are no longer the answer.

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Time for Doug Ford government to act on health care crisis

Thursday, August 4th, 2022

In times of crisis, leadership carries a particular responsibility. It is about showing up, demonstrating competence and shoring up confidence. It’s about accountability, being seen to be in charge, about restoring trust when trust is wavering… It’s time the Ford government gave evidence of being appropriately seized by the urgency of the health-care crisis and with taking responsibility for addressing public anxiety about it.

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What is Doug Ford hiding in his mandate letters to government ministers?

Thursday, August 4th, 2022

Ever since he became premier in 2018, Ford has refused to let the public see his mandate letters to his cabinet ministers. Indeed, Ford is so desperate to keep the letters secret that he’s waging a costly legal battle to prevent their release. It’s a fight he has lost all the way to Ontario’s top court and is now appealing to the Supreme Court of Canada… he’s also keeping the letters secret even from key bureaucrats who help analyze and formulate government policy.

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An unhealthy shortage of family doctor

Monday, August 1st, 2022

There is no single fix to the stresses Canada’s health-care system is facing. But efforts that bolster the ranks of family doctors — such as easing the administrative burdens that detract from patient care and encouraging the expansion of family medicine teams — hold the promise of improving our collective health.

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Are thousands of uninsured people about to lose health coverage in Ontario? Fears grow about end to COVID-era OHIP rules

Saturday, July 30th, 2022

… the care for the uninsured throughout the pandemic has been about one per cent of the total hospital spending and “across virtually every health condition, there is evidence that prevention improves health and let people live longer and better lives.”… The interim policy has also simplified the administrative work for health-care providers and alleviated their stress and burnout…

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