Posts Tagged ‘ideology’

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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.

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Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »


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.

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Posted in Education Delivery System | 4 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.

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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.

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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.”

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Why you should care about Ontario’s riding boundaries

Thursday, August 8th, 2024

… electoral-riding maps are essential to how our democracy operates, to deciding who is represented by whom and at what ratio of elected representatives to population, to quite literally mapping out who gets heard and by whom and how. The Ford government should at least launch a review of the electoral map and commit to ensuring that every resident has fair, adequate, and near-equal representation. And if it’s not willing to take that on, it should take the federal boundaries and adopt them.

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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.

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Take it from a retired judge, Premier Ford — here’s what you don’t get about our judicial system

Wednesday, August 7th, 2024

Every case needs to be judged on its own facts and circumstances. Every accused person has a right (not a privilege) to be heard. I believe the key truth you are missing, Premier, is the cornerstone of our system — the presumption of innocence… They are innocent until the moment a judge or jury is satisfied that the state has proven their guilt. Would you change that?

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The Danger of Poilievre’s ‘Axe the Tax’ Scam Hits Home

Monday, August 5th, 2024

Opposition to climate action stems mostly from Canada’s largely foreign-owned fossil fuel industry, American dark-money-funded think tanks and Canada’s major newspaper chain, owned by American hedge funds… Emissions are being reduced, and with the Canada Carbon Rebate the vast majority of Canadians are financially better off under pollution pricing… Canada cannot slogan its way out of the climate crisis

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As for-profit health care expands across Canada, doctors are fighting back

Friday, August 2nd, 2024

… the Canadian Medical Association is calling on governments across the country to ensure medically necessary care is based on need and not on the ability to pay. This includes enforcing a provision in the Canada Health Act that bans making patients pay fees as a condition of receiving publicly insured health services, a practice employed by some private medical clinics.

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