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When did the erosion of Ontario’s universities and colleges start?
Friday, November 17th, 2023
In 2019 Ford cut tuition fees by 10 per cent and kept them frozen… It was destructive. Ontario’s per-student funding for universities was only 57 per cent of that in all other provinces while its colleges were at 44 per cent…This funding gap is causing such hardship that eight of 23 universities, including Queen’s University and Waterloo, are running deficits. Some may crumble or break, as did Laurentian University.
Tags: budget, ideology, immigration, jurisdiction
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
National pharmacare dream dying as Trudeau appears ready to cave to Big Pharma
Thursday, November 16th, 2023
… pharmacare would increase Canadian government spending by the equivalent of about one-third of one percentage point of GDP… Even so, politicians seem willing to conjure up the threat of a credit downgrade, scaring Canadians into falsely believing universal pharmacare is unaffordable. (Instead, the Liberals may propose a smaller means-tested program.) … don’t be fooled into believing it’s because we can’t afford it.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
New Canadians have valuable work experience. A new law will knock down a barrier to putting those skills to work
Tuesday, November 14th, 2023
Studies have suggested that only about a quarter of internationally-trained immigrants in Ontario were working in regulated professions aligned with their training… Banning Canadian experience requirements from job postings and ads is another step toward eliminating systemic barriers newcomers face, creating a more inclusive work force, and addressing labour shortages.
Tags: economy, immigration, jurisdiction, participation
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Family doctors are suffering and so are their patients
Monday, November 13th, 2023
The money that family doctors make is at the very bottom of the range of all physicians’ pay… when we are responsible for all the overhead costs of operating a clinic, which are rising every year, and our fees don’t increase to keep up, the difference has to be made up somewhere and it comes out of the doctor’s pocket… it is getting harder and harder to operate a financially sustainable family medicine practice.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »
Ontario’s registered nurses are getting new prescribing powers — and some doctors aren’t happy about it
Tuesday, November 7th, 2023
Registered nurses will be able to independently prescribe and administer some medications — such as those for smoking cessation, immunizations and topical anesthetics for pain relief and wound care… Nurses who wish to participate must complete additional specialized education, for which registration is expected to begin in January… the change… will help make it easier for patients to get care while also reducing wait times at community clinics and hospitals.
Tags: Health, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The Liberals have a chance to make headway on pharmacare. They should seize the opportunity
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023
Hoskins had recommended that a universal program begin with essential medicines, which would initially cost the government $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. The NDP insists on a single-payer universal system but acknowledges it can’t be done in one fell swoop. It has demanded that timelines for progress be enshrined in legislation. If all this leads to a “foundational” piece of legislation and a firm road map going forward, that will be welcome and significant progress in a time of economic uncertainty.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, featured, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »
Canada has more doctors than ever — but access is worse. Why is that?
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023
Governments may fund primary health care, but they don’t make the work rules. Those are made mainly by doctors. Medicare still makes sense. Public payment reduces administrative costs while eliminating financial barriers. But because of Medicare’s policy legacies, even doubling the number of doctors would not provide the access we deserve. We need to change the way physicians do their work.
Tags: Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | 2 Comments »
‘We have a system that has lost its integrity’: Canada moves to reform its international student program
Monday, October 30th, 2023
“The worst of the private colleges are the storefront, fly-by-night operation, and they’re really dashing people’s hopes in this country. And those need to be shut down,” said Miller, adding that education is outside of the federal jurisdiction and it takes provincial leadership to address these problems… A new program has been developed to let immigration and border officials to quickly authenticate international students’ offer letters and payment status in real time.
Tags: crime prevention, immigration, multiculturalism, participation
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Indian students outpace Ontario government in funding colleges: report
Sunday, September 17th, 2023
“Indian students not only contribute twice the amount of money to the college system, on aggregate, that Canadian students do, they also contribute slightly more than does the Government of Ontario.”… as Ontario has frozen and reduced tuition for domestic students, colleges have made up for it by accepting more international students… this has led to municipalities struggling to provide housing, transit and social services for the increasing population.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, multiculturalism, standard of living
Posted in Education Delivery System | No Comments »
Mental health and prison: a tragic cycle that repeats itself
Saturday, September 16th, 2023
… when offenders are released, they often return to the same circumstances — homelessness, unemployment, drug use, lack of mental health care — that led to their offending in the first place.
Post-release treatment must therefore be just one part of a more comprehensive community effort, one that attends to the health, housing and employment needs of offenders.
Tags: crime prevention, housing, mental Health
Posted in Child & Family Debates | No Comments »
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