Posts Tagged ‘budget’
Despite spending billions, Ontario is failing to solve family doctor shortage
Thursday, November 5th, 2026
Ontario outputs 775 family medicine graduates annually, but given that half opt out of comprehensive care, it leaves 387 new family doctors. Given that 500 family doctors retire each year, the province is left with a net loss of 113 family physicians annually… Solving the primary care crisis is impossible without accurate data… The lack of disclosure on these fundamental points is concerning… It’s time the Ministry of Health released the data. All of it.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | 11 Comments »
The Economic Benefits of Canada’s Public Health Care System
Tuesday, October 20th, 2026
As we confront unprecedented challenges to our economic sovereignty, strengthening this powerful engine of growth and well-being should play a central role in Canada’s coming economic reorientation. As economists and health policy experts, we affirm our support for continued and expanded public health funding, and reforms to improve quality and coverage, in order to maximize the economic and human benefits of universal public health care.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, standard of living, tax
Posted in Debates | 34 Comments »
Not adding up: Surgical and diagnostic privatization in Ontario
Thursday, October 15th, 2026
The Ontario government’s policy direction favours for-profit—rather than public—delivery of surgeries and medical imaging… If the privatization of surgeries and diagnostic procedures was sound health care policy, then the evidence would support this direction—but it does not… Instead, the provincial government should… Stop privatizing surgeries and medical imaging; Immediately increase public hospital funding and service capacity; and, Commit to evidence-based public system improvement strategies.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health Delivery System | 34 Comments »
Does Jordan’s Principle need reform, or just reliable funding?
Sunday, October 4th, 2026
Delays in funding, which can last anywhere from 12 to 24 months, threaten critical care windows. When a program like Jordan’s Principle makes room to meet long-standing needs, it can become an easy target that is cast as a money pit. However, ensuring equity for all people in this country — given the past and present impacts of settler colonialism — comes with a cost.
Tags: budget, Health, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | 8 Comments »
How Ontario’s private clinics are draining taxpayer dollars and staff from public health care
Thursday, October 1st, 2026
Funding private clinics drains our public system, poaching staff and siphoning taxpayer dollars from front-line care. If interprofessional health teams are to succeed, the province must guarantee competitive salaries to staff them. Nurse practitioners need immediate provincial funding… Private clinics cost Ontario more, threaten patient safety and increase public wait times. They erode equity, accessibility and universality — the very foundation of the Canada Health Act.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Delivery System | 8 Comments »
Alternative federal budget 2026-27: Summary
Thursday, September 17th, 2026
Simply arguing for a strong Canada, without any other criteria, clearly isn’t cutting it… Recent federal budgets have been something of a wishlist from Canada’s corporate elites. The AFB… is a wishlist from below—of regular, working people and the movements they build. It is also a benchmark: a realistic, achievable outline of the Canada that we could have, if policymakers chose a route of ambition—a route of strength, but also a route of solidarity.
Tags: budget, child care, economy, Education, featured, Health, homelessness, immigration, Indigenous, Seniors, tax
Posted in Debates | 9 Comments »
Doing more with less: 10 facts about school funding in Ontario
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
On the one hand, the provincial government claims to be making historic investments in education, injecting more money than ever into everyday programs, infrastructure, and targeted initiatives. On the other hand, education advocates and researchers point to larger class sizes, deteriorating buildings, rising school violence, and dwindling resources for students who require additional supports due to disability, low socio-economic status, or other circumstances… The pattern that emerges is clear: schools and educators are being asked to do more with less, and students are paying the price.
Tags: budget, Education, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living, youth
Posted in Education Delivery System | 6 Comments »
Why simplifying Canada’s tax code is about social trust, not just saving money
Saturday, August 22nd, 2026
Economic researchers at the University of Calgary have developed a framework to evaluate what happens when a government undertakes a tax reform, and they are taking a broad view of the social returns of tax… “Administrative reform can enhance fairness and trust, but if designed or evaluated narrowly through cost and yield metrics, it can deepen distributional inequities and erode public confidence”… The first plank is measuring the social return per administrative dollar spent…
Tags: budget, economy, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | 29 Comments »
The predictable consequence to the gaps in our health funding? Private spending keeps growing faster than public
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026
Bilateral “Aging With Dignity“ agreements have earmarked funding for home, community and long-term care, allowing for valuable investments in capacity, staff wages and infrastructure. But public coverage to directly displace household spending is nowhere to be found… This fragmentation carries with it significant costs, including duplicated administration across thousands of private insurers, weaker collective bargaining power over drug prices and coverage gaps that push some patients toward hospitalization when they can’t afford medication.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | 1 Comment »
When politicians tell us health-care spending is unsustainable, they never seem to mention this
Monday, August 17th, 2026
… the single largest private-spending category in Canada is prescription drugs. We remain the only high-income country in the world whose universal healthcare system lacks a universal drug plan…. the notion that our health-care system is at risk because governments are spending too much is misleading in a country where seniors cover the cost of long-term care beds, parents pay out of pocket for their children’s dental work and patients spend too much on the medications they need to be healthy.
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, jurisdiction, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Debates | 4 Comments »
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