The simple solution to overcrowding in our hospitals is to allow Canadians to purchase health insurance that covers medically-necessary care
Delirium can result from waiting too long in an emergency room. And the chances of that happening in Canada have never been greater. The Canadian Institute for Health Information released a report in January that showed the average wait time in an emergency room in 2016-17 was up by 11 per cent. An unacceptable one…
The PM seems committed to adding to the differences between Indigenous people and the mainstream, instead of trying to dismantle a divisive system
A jury’s recent acquittal of a white man for the killing of an Indigenous man highlights some of the deepest divisions in this country. One of those divisions is between people living on reserves, and the farmers and townspeople living in the vicinity of those reserves. The Red Pheasant First Nation, where Colten Boushie lived…
Solving this seemingly intractable problem should be quite simple, but simply increasing funding will only make the problems worse
Pondering the crisis so many First Nations communities face over water quality, you can’t help but think of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.” The ironic dilemma of the mariner is obvious in more than 90 per cent of Canada’s First Nations communities. Most…
By better understanding how various political factions differ, perhaps we can help close some fundamental gaps in society
North American political polarization is on the rise. Those on the left appear to move ever further to the left, while those on the right find less and less in common with fellow citizens. The political rhetoric has escalated to a toxic level. Half of Americans are labelled sexist, racist, homophobic and Islamophobic; a basket…
Free prescription drugs skew people away from healthy lifestyles and spread the financial burden to taxpayers who don’t qualify for the drug plans
Ontario taxpayers receive nothing but bad news from their politicians on drugs. In April 2017, both the Liberal government and the opposition NDP proposed expensive drug plans. The one proposed by Liberals took effect on Jan. 1, to the detriment of the public purse. It isn’t a prescription for affordable public health, it’s a prescription…
The space race is on and the payoff is an untold cache of precious metals, large enough to completely dwarf the world's biggest mining companies
While not literally pie in the sky, asteroid mining used to be science fiction. It's getting closer to reality. Various private space companies have focused on launching satellites, with hazy side-bets on future colonization ventures. And now, technological advances make mining asteroids a legitimate prospect. There are millions of asteroids in space, many orbiting between…
The large and growing Indigenous middle class has shown us the way, by successfully integrating without any loss of their Indigenous culture and identity
The Great Divide creates the rugged border between Alberta and British Columbia. However, Canada has another great divide: the trial of Gerald Stanley for the killing of Colten Boushie. It brought into sharp focus the huge chasm in this country between mainstream Canadians and Indigenous people. It’s not necessary to recite the facts of the…
Canadians need to ask if they should own a Crown corporation that could cost them dearly or if they prefer to have that money invested in more secure places
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) represents a significant risk to the Canadian economy. It’s dangerous for government to be involved in a venture that monopolizes a significant part of an economy. Canadians are exposed in much the same way Americans were when the U.S. economic bubble burst in 2008. What’s the alternative? Selling…
Recycling seems like a neat solution until we can't dump our garbage on another country and have to deal with it ourselves
China has decided that what goes around doesn’t have to come around – at least not around there. As 2017 came to an end, China stopped importing most recyclables, putting Canadian recyclers in a bind. The Chinese decision also revealed weaknesses in the basic premise of recycling. Many environmentalists regard recycling as imperative for the…
The #MeToo movement has ushered in a revolution that discards hard-won concepts like the presumption of innocence and due process
If anyone doubted that the #MeToo movement has ushered in a revolution, the political execution of Patrick Brown should put those doubts to rest. As in all revolutions, not all the heads that fall into the basket deserve to be there – but the Madame Defarges of this world will gleefully stand by and watch.…