Canada’s governments must apply the lessons of COVID-19 to create a more gender-just future International Women’s Day, March 8th, is the annual commemoration that invites Canadians to take stock of the progress made toward gender equality in our country and beyond. But in 2023, more than three years after the COVID-19 crisis was declared, this…
MAiD is changing our health system to one designed to bury us at the lowest possible cost Decriminalizing “Medical Assistance in Dying” (MAiD) in 2016 apparently confirmed a powerful social bias in favour of personal freedom. Presented as a free choice – affecting no one else – euthanasia seemed acceptable to most Canadians. However, this…
Helping those stuck in the welfare trap could aid in addressing Canada’s labour shortage Would you take a job for $4.61 per hr? Probably not. But that’s the choice many Quebecers receiving social assistance are offered. With no exaggeration, they can either stay home or work full time for a whole year and earn a…
Too bad there’s none on offer When the Premiers were first called to a sit-down lunch to talk about health care with Prime Minister Trudeau, there was plenty of talk about the potential for systemic change, innovation and accountability. It seemed that Canadians and their leaders were finally on the same page in recognizing that…
Gradually, entire cities are becoming unaffordable for working families A new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) shows that rents are skyrocketing in many, if not most, Canadian cities. No surprise there. But this year’s annual report also documents, for the first time, rent increases in vacant units. It shows rents going…
But governments must first reduce the tax burden on companies to give them the room they need to improve their productivity Quebec has a shortage of workers. Before the start of the pandemic, the lack of labour was already one of the top concerns of Quebec companies. The situation hasn’t improved since then. In the…
The competition will pressure governments to improve the public system Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s proposal to use private health centres to alleviate long wait lists has faced opposition from many quarters. It may seem counterintuitive, but Ford’s plan will actually ease the shortages of doctors and nurses. It was B.C.’s NDP government of the early…
Foreign-trained health professionals could help alleviate the strain Canada’s medical system is fast becoming a disaster area and a tragedy. There are not nearly enough family doctors to provide primary health care. Walk-in clinics were supposed to backfill this need, but many now do not take walk-ins as their registered patient load is already beyond…
Grocers need to be more accountable to themselves and the public A grocer code of conduct is coming to Canada. The United Kingdom and Australia, where grocer oligopolies exist, have a similar code already. This is great news for consumers; in fact, it should be considered a minor miracle. It all started in 2020 when…
Failings of the health system are not due to chronic underfunding
If Quebec voters have one concern during the current election campaign, and just about every election campaign for decades now, it’s the health-care system. Contrary to what many commentators have been claiming for years, the failings of the health system are not due to “chronic underfunding.” For this reason, the notion that lower taxes would…