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I cover the far right for a living. This is why I wasn’t surprised to find Canadians embedded in an alleged Russian propaganda scheme
Monday, September 16th, 2024
… Tenet Media produced at least 51 videos this year focused on Canada that were viewed half-a-million times… on hot button cultural issues, including immigration, crime, gender and sexuality, as well as “anti-white” sentiment, unmarked residential school graves, and economic grievances about grocery prices and housing affordability… It is bad for our democracy when a significant slice of our population is being deliberately misled and even radicalized.
Tags: featured, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford wants to stop doctors from handing out clean needles. Here’s why they shouldn’t listen
Monday, September 16th, 2024
The government’s plans include prohibiting provincially funded community health centres with consumption services from distributing clean needles and providing safer supply of opioids and other prescriptions. The government alleges that needle distribution and safer supply threaten community safety and are ineffective ways to treat substance dependent people. The government is wrong on both counts… public health is protected by providing clean needles… and the prescribing of opioids reduces overdose-related mortality.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
I’ve used a Toronto supervised consumption site for a year. What it’s really like in these facilities Doug Ford is bent on shuttering
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
The Queen West site provided me with more than a place to safely use drugs. The staff provided medical attention when I needed it, food and snacks when I was hungry, water and juice when I was thirsty, a sympathetic ear and a hug when I despaired. Through them, I was connected with a phenomenal support worker from Parkdale Queen West Community Health Centre… They have been my advocate and biggest supporter. With their help, obstacles that seemed insurmountable have vanished.
Tags: Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Why teachers like me are dreading the return to school
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
… 30 per cent of Ontario teachers leave the vocation in the first five years as educators. Ontario educators are leaving teaching behind as severe provincial spending cuts, the strain of COVID and a drastic rise in student violence have created an education crisis in Ontario… The provincial government began slashing funding to education in 2019. This resulted in multibillion dollar budget shortfalls for Ontario boards… A 2023-2024 survey reported a 24 per cent shortage of teaching staff in elementary schools, and a 35 per cent teaching shortage in secondary schools.
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
The Ford government gets it wrong on drugs
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
… on what basis has the government concluded that these sites are doing more to aggravate than to mitigate the drug crisis? On what basis has it concluded that public use is more likely to fall and public safety to rise as these sites close? What, other than the political mood or the premier’s oft-stated personal distaste, led it to this decision? The answers to these questions are not apparent either in the government’s announcement or in the available evidence.
Tags: crime prevention, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Pierre Poilievre’s attack on me is a symptom of a larger problem
Wednesday, September 4th, 2024
Poilievre’s referring to these sites as “drug dens” is callous and deceptive. These sites offer a lifeline to those struggling with substance use. The very same harm reduction programs that some leaders are targeting don’t only save lives; they also open the door to treatment and recovery… Instead of mocking, Poilievre and his team could benefit from experts to understand the evidence on the importance of supervised consumption sites as an essential pillar of a multi-pronged approach to address this public health crisis and to make our communities safer for all.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Are private health care providers breaking the law? Four doctors speak out on for-profit care in Canada
Saturday, August 10th, 2024
… the Canada Health Act, which specifies that medically necessary care pertains to care provided by a physician or in a hospital in order for provinces to receive their full Canada Health Transfer payments. The Act, which became law in 1984, is understandably silent on other health-care providers, such as nurse practitioners, or technological platforms that have emerged in the ensuing years… “… it’s absolutely horrible that people are being asked to pay for primary care especially when we see such a lack of support for physicians working in primary care through the publicly funded route.”
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
This group of [Indigenous] investors is making major acquisitions in Canada. The results could benefit us all
Saturday, August 10th, 2024
… at least 111 Indigenous communities have obtained or announced equity stakes in Canadian businesses in the past two years alone… Wind power, oil and gas, solar generation and electricity transmission account for about three-quarters of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit investments… Indigenous ownership in projects mitigates land-claims conflict, reduces regulatory risks for all investors, and creates other spinoff benefits.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
Out of work? You may be out of luck. Why getting EI is harder than it’s ever been
Saturday, August 10th, 2024
The program is running a honking great cumulative deficit because of the pandemic and improving access would mean hiking premiums or adding federal funding. Both options are no-fly zones for politicians these days… They have doubled EI sickness benefits, from 15 to 26 weeks; introduced extensions in EI caregiving and parental benefits; and added EI funding for training. But changes to regular jobless benefits have been temporary and targeted, despite repeated promises for deeper reforms. They’ve neither addressed workers’ needs in the 21st century, nor EI’s core purpose.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Who wants you to believe taxes have risen 2000 per cent? Would-be Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre for a start
Thursday, August 8th, 2024
For decades the Fraser Institute has been using its ample resources to disconnect taxes in the public’s mind from all the benefits, services, programs and infrastructure that taxes provide… the effective tax rate Canadians pay has increased by 28 per cent since 1961… But… government today provides a lot more benefits than it did in 1961 — most notably, universal health coverage and old age pensions — major programs that have become essential to the well-being and financial security of Canadians.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
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