Canada could be a world leader in innovation
Innovation and productivity drive economic growth. They allow countries to lead in today’s fast-paced global economy. They can raise living standards for everyone (if distributed fairly!). Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has said, “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long-run, it is almost everything.” For three decades, Canada has been lagging behind similar countries when […]
Focus on human dimension of innovation
Innovation is often defined in the context of those discoveries and systems necessary to sustain Canada’s competitive leadership in a global economy. We must realize however, that innovation is only as valuable as its capacity to reflect, to resonate with and to serve the human experience. Addressing the social, cultural, and ethical impacts of new […]
Is innovation an election issue?
Since 2006, at least a dozen major reports about innovation in Canada have come to three identical conclusions. First, future growth and prosperity depend upon innovation. Second, Canada is not very good at it. Third, what we are doing about it is not working. Such conclusions attract broad political and industry agreement. But it has […]
Driving innovation—are we there yet?
‘There has been no effective mobilization of advice and counsel from outside the public service and responsibility for the expansion of various activities has been borne by individual ministers without any evidence of their relation to national policy as a whole.’ (J. Grant Glassco, Commissioner, 1963) This salient observation on the country’s national science activities […]
Toronto tech conference an American Idol for innovators
Some of the country’s most innovative companies in digital media and information and communication technology were featured at the annual Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) in Toronto last month. The Nov. 18 event, which was attended by top innovative tech experts in Canada, is described as “a technology party for the industry” by founding co-chair Rick […]
Health
Sex, lies and physician supply: why female doctors are not to blame
Among the many reasons offered for why many Canadians are increasingly facing difficulties finding a family physician to call their own is the fact that the workforce has become increasingly female. The argument usually goes something like this: female family practitioners work fewer hours, take time out to raise families and have shorter careers. […]
The importance of follow-up care after an emergency room visit
Television shows have popularized the theatrical entrance into the hospital emergency room: patients racing down hallways on gurneys with worried doctors and nurses running alongside—great drama. How most patients leave the emergency room isn’t quite as dramatic, but the facts tell a good news story. About 85 per cent of the more than 14 […]
Why Canada shouldn’t compete with the U.S. for the worst performing health system in the developed world
The latest Commonwealth Study ranked Canada’s health-care system a dismal second to last in a list of eleven major industrialized countries. We had the dubious distinction of beating out only the Americans. This latest poor result is already being used by those bent on further privatizing health care. They argue—as they always do—that if […]
Spreading innovation key to health-care sustainability
Improving health care across Canada is no easy task. Growing rates of chronic diseases ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an aging population and steadily rising costs are straining systems that were built for a different era. The question facing governments and the health-care sector is: How can […]
