Posts Tagged ‘mental Health’

« Older Entries | Newer Entries »

Ten reasons why we need pharmacare in tomorrow’s budget

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

The Liberals set up the Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare which reported in early 2019, and then campaigned on pharmacare in the 2019 election. Still no pharmacare. Now, as the financial and medical costs of coping with the pandemic keep going up, pharmacare is more important than ever.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


Always ahead of her time, Kathleen Wynne has some advice as she prepares to leave Queen’s Park

Wednesday, April 6th, 2022

The pioneering ideas Wynne fought in vain for are back in vogue after the realities of the pandemic: Child care. Check. Pharmacare. Check. Paid sick days. Check. Minimum wage increases. Check. Basic income support. Check. Wynne’s defeat led to the demise of her reforms in all these areas, as Ford’s Tories systematically dismantled what she had built. Within days of taking power, the PCs pulled the plug on her OHIP+ drug program and then went down the list.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Governance History | No Comments »


Close to home: The Canadian far right, COVID-19 and social media

Monday, April 4th, 2022

The far-right benefited from social media’s tendency to privilege reductionist and simplified narratives… algorithmic dynamics helped the far-right in propagating the binary populist framework — “we, the people” versus “the corrupt and evil elites,” “bad politicians and leaders” who implemented COVID-19 measures versus “good politicians and leaders” who don’t — to foster and incite rage among discontent Canadians. 

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Looming Healthcare Costs Threaten Tax Hikes Unless Focus Shifts to a New Approach

Thursday, March 31st, 2022

… focusing on alternatives to institutional long-term care such as improvements to homecare and community-living supports can help reduce costs (in addition to benefiting seniors). Improving Canadians’ overall health and controlling cost pressures will require substantial reform, with a renewed focus on good health promotion in lieu of the historic overemphasis on treating illness.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


Senators overwhelmed by emails, calls pushing conspiracy theories about basic income legislation

Thursday, March 31st, 2022

… there’s nothing new about conspiracy theories but the pandemic has “pushed them into hyperdrive,” fuelling a movement of people willing to believe there’s a global movement to “enslave” humanity… people in these online forums are largely unaware of how the government operates — or how a bill is passed through Parliament — and those knowledge gaps “are easily filled with fantasy.” “It’s easy to see a sinister plot when you don’t actually understand how the government works.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Ontario government tables legislation to make PSW wage increase permanent

Wednesday, March 30th, 2022

If passed, the Pandemic and Emergency Preparedness Act, 2022 would see workers in long-term care and community care continue to receive a raise of $3 per hour while workers in public hospitals will keep their $2 per hour bump… The government had been extending the measure for months at a time throughout the pandemic. Also included in the legislation is a commitment to recruiting and retaining more doctors, nurses and PSWs by way of a $142 million investment through the “Learn and Stay” grant.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Health Delivery System | No Comments »


Run and hide! Lock your doors! The coalition government is coming for your democracy

Friday, March 25th, 2022

The true democratic disorder is when a party receives around 40 per cent of votes but gets 60 per cent of seats in Parliament, and then imposes their will on the country as if they’d received a true mandate. That’s delusional, yet it’s become our political normal. The last time a majority of seats accompanied a majority of votes was in 1984… Coalitions are by their nature improvisational and creative, so they don’t follow rule books. They’re also pretty inevitable now, since elections increasingly return minority governments.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »


Long banned in Ontario, private hospitals could soon reappear

Thursday, March 10th, 2022

… with the chaos created by COVID as a cover, the Ford government seems poised to allow a considerable expansion of private health care in the province… a dramatic development, allowing hospitals — the centrepieces of our health-care system — to be governed by corporate boards that prioritize profits, as in the U.S… private hospitals would undermine medicare by enabling well-to-do patients to gain faster access to treatment.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


As Toronto’s homeless freeze, modular housing for them sits empty in a city parking lot. Blame Doug Ford’s government

Thursday, February 10th, 2022

The city asked for a special minister’s order to fast track modular housing for the homeless in Willowdale. The province has refused… The modular housing units sit empty near Finch Station, a five-minute drive from their intended destination… the… government’s new report on housing affordability recommends limiting exactly that: the seemingly endless community consultations that stall new housing in cities. 

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Inclusion Delivery System | No Comments »


Public health care advocates support targeted federal spending boosts for provinces

Friday, February 4th, 2022

Public health advocates are calling for federal health care dollars for the provinces and territories to come with strings attached, countering the demands for more unconditional federal dollars from provincial and territorial leaders… “The simple reality is, handing out blank cheques to Conservative premiers won’t fix nursing shortages, repair long-term care, provide better mental health services or implement pharmacare”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Health Debates | No Comments »


« Older Entries | Newer Entries »