Posts Tagged ‘mental Health’

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Despite spending billions, Ontario is failing to solve family doctor shortage

Thursday, November 5th, 2026

The math is brutal: 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… The lack of disclosure on these fundamental points is concerning. Taxpayers paid $3.4 billion for Ontario’s Primary Care Action Plan. It’s time the Ministry of Health released the data.

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Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


Why anxiety and mood disorders are skyrocketing in Canada — and who is being hit the hardest

Tuesday, September 15th, 2026

In the past decade, we’ve seen the internet transform the way people, especially youth, connect and spend time with each other. It’s led to growing social isolation, fewer in-person events and less physical activity; a recent report from Mental Health Research Canada linked extended screen time and negative online experiences with higher rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation among Canadian youth. At the same time, the world is in a period of growing uncertainty… we’re also seeing greater socioeconomic disparity and uncertainty over time…

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Posted in Health Debates | 1 Comment »


Carney government makes long-awaited move to restrict social media access for children

Friday, June 12th, 2026

The Carney Liberals have introduced a revamped online harms bill that would restrict access to social media for those under 16, make AI chatbots safer, and impose new rules on digital platforms… The bill does not lay out what those safeguards must be, but suggests that some of the criteria platforms must meet could include special accounts designed for children, parental controls, and other unspecified design features… measures to reduce the addictive nature of social media and deploying safe search settings.

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Posted in Child & Family Policy Context | 41 Comments »


Coercion isn’t care, and new laws that enforce treatment and confinement are dangerous

Monday, April 27th, 2026

Coercion is articulated as care and involuntary treatment is presented not as a restriction of liberty but as a necessary response to incapacity and risk. This appeal to compassion functions as a unifying political language, enabling cross-partisan support despite differing ideological stances.  By portraying these policies as pragmatic, humane and long overdue, policymakers limit opposition. They also reconfigure the boundaries of acceptable state intervention…

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Posted in Health Policy Context | 5 Comments »


Those who care for long-term dementia patients are expected to do the impossible

Monday, April 13th, 2026

You have to deal with a patient who is no longer the person you loved, who is critical and demanding and will not do whatever is in their best interest, like taking medication or seeing a dentist. A patient who might even be violent… If you’re lucky your patient might retain a calm and co-operative personality and/or you can afford to get them into a good and supportive place to live. These are not  options for many caregivers. 

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Posted in Child & Family Delivery System | 388 Comments »


Ford government to end funding for supervised consumption sites, advocates say — including two in Toronto

Thursday, March 19th, 2026

… the province is providing the sites 90 days’ notice “in order to support an orderly transition for clients so they can access other community health services… The sites are being asked to provide a plan for how they will transition clients to other community health services and realign their services to promote rehabilitation.

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Posted in Health Delivery System | 17 Comments »


‘It’s chronic disease, stupid!’ The central challenge facing health care

Friday, February 20th, 2026

A well-integrated interprofessional health-care system, rooted in primary care and configured to support patients with chronic conditions and their informal caregivers, has the potential to improve health outcomes, curb health-care spending and reduce reliance on hospital care… Government policies that fail to meaningfully support public health and social safety nets ultimately drive higher chronic disease rates and greater downstream health-care costs.

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There are realistic solutions to our growing mental health crisis

Wednesday, February 18th, 2026

In primary care, mental health concerns account for roughly one-in-five visits to family physicians in Canada and most primary care practices in Ontario do not have embedded mental health professionals. Too often, patients leave with a referral, not support, and join another wait-list… A mental health system that waits for crisis is not care… We must find new ways to invest in early, visible and embedded support.

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What causes depression? What we know, don’t know and suspect

Tuesday, February 17th, 2026

Depression arises from a mix of factors – biological (genes and hormones), psychological (personality and thoughts) and social (stress and life events).  Treatment options are based on all of these factors, as well as considering how severe the depression is… While science has made some progress in understanding depression, what underpins each person’s experience is unique.

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Ontario needs more psychologists. These changes finally address the long-standing obstacles to care

Thursday, February 12th, 2026

Across Canada, other provincial and territorial regulators have safely relied on shorter, well-designed supervision periods for many years. Ontario already recognizes psychologists trained under these models through Canadian labour mobility rules that require provinces and territories to register professionals who are already registered elsewhere in Canada, even if their training followed different, shorter, timelines.

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Posted in Health Delivery System | 5 Comments »


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