Category: Health

Minister Ambrose: Is Canada safe from Ebola?

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Her latest statement on that topic, issued tonight at about 1840 ET:

Statement from the Minister of Health on Ebola
October 15, 2014
Ottawa, ON

The Public Health Agency of Canada is meeting with provinces and territories on a weekly basis to support their readiness. In the event of an Ebola case in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada is ready to respond with a team of public health experts and epidemiologists experienced in infectious disease outbreak management to support the investigation and contact tracing, provide laboratory expertise to quickly confirm diagnosis, and any supplies that may be needed from the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile System, such as masks, gloves, and face shields. Continue reading Minister Ambrose: Is Canada safe from Ebola?

Health Care workers in New Brunswick: Graham vs Alward

  New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant opened up the second day of the 38th General Election in his province in Rexton, talking about the Liberal plan to improve healthcare delivery. [Read the plan here]  

  Continue reading Health Care workers in New Brunswick: Graham vs Alward

The first whopper of the New Brunswick election campaign

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New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant, seen above at the 2014 Liberal Party of Canada convention in Montreal, announce his party’s healthcare proposals on Friday.
(JOEL LEMAY/AGENCE QMI)

Just as Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne tried to use Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a bogeyman early in her successful election campaign earlier this summer, so too is New Brunswick Liberal Leader Brian Gallant quickly introducing Harper as a character in the just-launched New Brunswick election campaign. Gallant is way ahead in the polls and is trying to unseat incumbent Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward.

On Saturday, federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will campaign with Gallant and one would assume both Alward will be thrashed with whatever sins Liberals are accusing Harper of committing these days.

But let’s focus on what Gallant said on the campaign trail Friday, day two of the campaign. There’s this quote:
Continue reading The first whopper of the New Brunswick election campaign

Our embarrassing health care wait times

If this chart means anything, it means that Canadians in one part of the country do not have the same access to health care as Canadians in other parts of the country. And that surely means we’re failing on living up to notion of “universal health care”:

Wait times graphic

Source: The Fraser Institute’s 2013 wait times report card, published this morning.

CBS gets the back story on Chief Justice Roberts Obamacare switch

Jan Crawford, the Chief Political and Legal Correspondent for CBS News, gets some great — and extremely rare — dish from inside the U.S. Supreme Court in the wake of the historic Obamacare decision of last week.

In her piece, she chronicles how Chief Justice John Roberts — widely seen as a conservative — flip-flopped on Obamacare, was heavily pressured by the other conservative justices, and than was abandoned by them. Continue reading CBS gets the back story on Chief Justice Roberts Obamacare switch

Hungry in Canada? What were the leading parties saying a year ago?

The United Nations Rapporteur on the Right to Food says Canada is “self-righteous” and says that it is “appalling” that we ignore pronouncements from the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council. Olivier de Schutter darkly warned today that Canada’s failure to heed the council – whose current members include Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and the Congo — will do Canada no good!

Meanwhile, as Canadians knew all along, there are too many kids going to school hungry and too many of our relatives, friends, and neighbours who live on Canada’s First Nations can’t get good food cheap.

Well, we’ve had one federal election and seven provincial elections in the last year in Canada. The incumbent government — be it Conservative, Liberal or NDP — won every single one. Given all the opportunities electors had to “throw the bums out” on hunger and poverty issues, Canadians either blew it or they disagree with de Schutter’s diagnosis.

Now, if “eradicating hunger” was a central part of any provincial campaign, I’m counting on you, dear reader, to let me know. You can count on me, in return, to help you keep abreast of federal politics. So let’s look back, just over a year ago, to what the three leading parties were saying in their election platforms about food.  Continue reading Hungry in Canada? What were the leading parties saying a year ago?

With all the hunger and food security issues in the world, the UN focuses on… Canada?

My column across our papers today takes a look at the visit this week and next of a special envoy from the United Nations, the UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Its the first time this Rapporteur, who has just wrapped up missions to Syria and Benin, has decided to ‘investigate’ food systems in a developed country:

I’m not so sure Canada should be honoured in achieving this ‘first.’ In fact, it feels rather like there’s a nosy, do-gooder pestering one of the world’s model citizens when there are dozens of ne’er-do-well nations whose citizens would benefit from international scrutiny.

Not only that, this do-gooder reports to the United Nations Human Rights Council, a group whose legitimacy and credibility is untenable so long as that council’s current membership includes Cuba, Saudi Arabia and the nastiest human rights offender of them all, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Please click through to read the rest …

Flaherty exits boldly from one fine mess

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty boldly went Monday where no finance minister has ever gone before when it comes to the billions upon billions Ottawa transfers every year to the provinces for health and social services.

He told the provinces they would continue to get the billions upon billions from the federal treasury and — here comes the bold bit — told them they could spend it however they saw fit.

Imagine that: A federal government program with no strings attached.

Still, provincial finance ministers are a tough act to please. Continue reading Flaherty exits boldly from one fine mess

David Dodge's predictions for nominal GDP growth

Yesterday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced (too abruptly for some, mostly the finance ministers of provinces east of Saskatchewan) that the rate of annual increases of the federal-provincial social and health transfer will continue to be 6 per cent per year until 2016 and then, from that point until 2024, it will increase at the rate of inflation plus the rate of the growth of the economy, something economists call nominal Gross Domestic Product or nominal GDP.

So: Who’s got some predictions for nominal GDP going out 12 years? Continue reading David Dodge's predictions for nominal GDP growth