Posts Tagged ‘Health’
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When Canada was a world leader in vaccine research and production
Thursday, December 3rd, 2020
… scientists are permitted to take out patents on the products they develop (with our money), and then sell them to pharmaceutical manufacturers, who sell the products to the public — often at great profit. Even though our public investment paid for the original research, Canadians have no say over the products nor the price at which they are sold to us as consumers. Canada also has no share in the profits. We’ve ventured a long way, unfortunately, from the days when we had a publicly owned and medically innovative enterprise that dazzled on the world stage and kept Canadians at the front of the line for vaccines.
Tags: Health, ideology, pharmaceutical, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Health History | No Comments »
Let’s make Canada a global leader in COVID-19 treatments
Tuesday, November 24th, 2020
Canadian-led breakthroughs in medical sciences can improve our health and well-being, bolster our universities and research hospitals, strengthen our reputation in the global competition for resources and talent, and result in economic benefits for Canadians. And, most importantly, these trials could quickly develop novel therapies for treating COVID-19 while creating the downstream benefits of infrastructure and know-how to help us discover treatments for the next pandemic as well as for other diseases.
Tags: disabilities, Health, jurisdiction, participation, pharmaceutical
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
The Minister of Health should do the right thing and decriminalize drug possession
Tuesday, November 24th, 2020
Criminalization has never been shown to minimize drug use, nor does it advance the pursuit of care, if needed. It may trigger a series of consequences and pathways that rarely help the individual, let alone promote public interest. The most pressing needs of people who depend on substance use are not met by the criminal justice system… Criminalization should not be justified as an alternative to the shortfall in services to support people with complex requirements to restore their well-being.
Tags: crime prevention, disabilities, Health, ideology, jurisdiction
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Understanding Ontario’s long-term care tragedy
Tuesday, November 24th, 2020
The problem is not the ownership model of LTC homes. The major oversights that led to this tragedy were a failure to proactively test asymptomatic LTC workers and a failure of successive governments to approve redevelopment in homes with multi-residential rooms. Blaming other causes is specious and does not honour the memories of the Ontarians whose lives have been lost to this terrible pandemic.
Tags: budget, disabilities, Health, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
Wellness is a social justice issue in 2020
Tuesday, November 24th, 2020
It is time to admit that the path to personal well-being does not begin at the same starting line; COVID has exposed this heartbreaking fact on a devastating stage. Let’s not waste this crisis by aching to return to a “normal” that is fine for a few but unjust for so many others. It is time to define what wellness really is, not just for those who have the good fortune to commit to the practice, but for those who are struggling to stay alive right now.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology, participation, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
Doug Ford’s love-hate relationship with the nanny state
Saturday, November 21st, 2020
If there’s any time not to demean “the state” in utterly clichéd terms, it’s now. He’s clueless enough to unsheathe the nanny-state weapon at the very moment when governmental action is the only recourse, in a time of virtual — and literally viral — war. There is no substitute for the state in a war.
Tags: economy, Health, ideology
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Long-term care fiasco a warning about private ownership
Thursday, November 19th, 2020
Over the past decade, Chartwell paid its executives $47.3 million and distributed $798 million to shareholders. Meanwhile, in the 28 nursing homes Chartwell owns or operates in Ontario, the COVID-19 infection rate has been 47 per cent higher and the fatality rate 68 per cent higher than the provincial average… Contrary to business mythology, the private sector doesn’t always do things better. Rather, it always does things to make a profit
Tags: disabilities, Health, ideology, privatization, standard of living
Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | No Comments »
The feds can’t make the provinces ‘do the right thing’ on the pandemic, but they can make it worth their while
Wednesday, November 18th, 2020
… it can still structure its assistance in ways that offer provinces incentives to take a tougher line… That was the idea, you’ll recall, behind the Safe Reopening Agreement: in return for $19-billion in federal dough, the provinces made certain undertakings with regard to things like testing – they were supposed to be testing 200,000 people a day by now (actual figure: roughly 50,000). Any further assistance should be contingent on provinces meeting broader standards of policy stringency – and should be withheld without it.
Tags: budget, Health, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Pharmaceutical industry offers Ottawa $1-billion to scrap pending drug pricing rules, documents show
Monday, November 16th, 2020
The pharmaceutical industry has made a last-ditch $1-billion proposal to the Canadian government in hopes of fending off parts of a drug pricing crackdown set to go into effect on Jan. 1… to boost local manufacturing and commercialization, and on new programs to improve access to drugs for rare diseases… “The position of the Government of Canada remains unchanged – Canada has among the highest patented medicine prices in the world, and these high prices negatively affect the ability of patients to access new medicines”
Tags: budget, Health, ideology, mental Health, pharmaceutical, standard of living
Posted in Health Policy Context | No Comments »
Canada needs a bold pro-growth strategy for both pandemic recovery and a successful future
Sunday, November 15th, 2020
… we need to remove the barriers that prevent some of our citizens from realizing their potential. This includes a stronger income-security framework and skills programs that are better aligned with labour market needs. Affordable and accessible child care that… can improve the participation of women in the labour force, and help close the gender pay gap. Greater workplace accessibility for disabled Canadians can also add workers. Improved integration of newcomers into the economy through better recognition of skills, education and qualifications can increase labour productivity…
Tags: disabilities, economy, Health, ideology, immigration, jurisdiction, participation, standard of living, women
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
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