Posts Tagged ‘standard of living’
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 | 13 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 | 36 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 | 35 Comments »
New federal wage protections for part-time and temp workers are coming soon. Will they work?
Friday, October 9th, 2026
Under the new rules, employers are required to pay workers equally, regardless of whether they are full-time, part-time, permanent or temporary, as long as they perform “substantially the same kind of work” in “the same industrial establishment.” Federally regulated temporary help agencies will also be prohibited from paying their employees less than a client company pays its own workers for comparable work, or charging workers fees to secure job assignments.
Tags: economy, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 7 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 »
Ontario’s minimum wage is falling further behind the living wage
Wednesday, September 30th, 2026
The 2018 minimum wage freeze, coupled with the weakening of rent control, dealt a double blow to low-wage workers and working families across Ontario. Poverty—measured in various ways—has increased in recent years as a direct result of these policies. The provincial government should raise the minimum wage to the living wage rate – a single change that would considerably improve the lives of more than 1.5 million workers in Ontario. That measure would go further in reducing working poverty ifpaired with regulatory changes that halt price gouging in rental housing and groceries.
Tags: economy, featured, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Debates | 4 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 »
Beyond yes or no: Why Indigenous consent to resource projects is so complex
Tuesday, August 18th, 2026
Cultural recognition also shows up in the promotion of Indigenous identity, support — financial and otherwise — for certain practices and partial recognition of sacred sites. Still, it remains selective and conditional, contingent on its compatibility with mining operations.
Economic recognition, meanwhile, is a central dimension in its own right, going beyond mere monetary compensation to reshape communities’ social status.
Tags: economy, Indigenous, jurisdiction, rights, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | 1 Comment »
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 »
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