Politics This Morning: Trudeau heads to Washington
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Washington, D.C., today for various events ahead of his state dinner with U.S. President Barack Obama tomorrow. More than 75 Canadian members of the media made the trip to cover the first state dinner between a Canadian prime minister and American president since 1997. Canada 2020 is hosting a […]
Philpott wants new Health Accord in place by 2017, a ‘fundamental change’
Health Minister Jane Philpott says she wants a new Health Accord in place by 2017. The 55-year-old physician, whose party campaigned on establishing a new era of federal-provincial relations, especially on the health file, said she has the provinces and territories on board in their ‘initial conversations’ and said Health Canada officials are working behind the scenes […]
It’s time to think beyond national pharmacare
Recently, federal and provincial health ministers agreed to create a working group to explore how to improve Canadians’ access to pharmaceutical drugs. In the wake of this, there is new optimism that pharmacare, publicly funded and universally available to Canadians, might one day come to pass. I support pharmacare. Many Canadians cannot afford the drugs […]
We will transform our health-care system and improve the health of Canadians
In medical school, I learned a lot about medicine—but not enough about the health system in which I would deliver care. Working as a family doctor in Canada and internationally, it didn’t take long to realize that it takes more than medicine to improve people’s health. In part, it takes a health-care system that is […]
Health proponents, beverage industry debate merits of tax on sweet drinks
The debate around a Senate report released last week suggesting taxing sweetened drinks as a way to curb obesity is foaming up in Canada like a well-shaken pop can being opened. But Canada’s federal Health Minister Jane Philpott (Markham-Stouffville, Ont.) told The Hill Times that, although it’s something she will be studying as part of her […]
Moving forward on health-care reform
In the Speech from the Throne and since, the new Liberal government has clearly said it is ready to re-engage with the provinces and territories on health care. This is a welcome development. For most of the past decade, the Harper government was distinctly unwilling to provide any leadership or even play a secondary role […]
Changing health-care paradigm: from economic drain to economic gain
On Jan. 13, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a $20-million investment to create a Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine establishing a stem-cell therapy development facility in Toronto. In his speech, the prime minister noted that “regenerative medicine is the future and not only is it the future, it’s a branch of medicine that Canada […]
Health experts call on government to increase transparency around drug research
Health professionals and academics are putting the heat on Health Canada to release information about prescription drugs—information that the department deems confidential for the businesses that sell the products. While the 2014 passing of Bill C-17, the Protecting Canadians from Unsafe Drugs Act—also called Vanessa’s Law—opened up some of the secrecy about pharmaceutical products, critics say […]
Health Statistics
A Check-Up on Canada’s Health: Total Fertility rate (average number of children per woman) 1.61 Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 4.8 Current smokers 18.1% Has a doctor 85.1% Heavy drinkers 17.9% High blood pressure 17.7% Overweight or obese adults 54.0% Overweight or obese youth (12-17) 23.1% Physically active (leisure time) 53.7% In […]
Protecting Canada’s universal health-care system is job No. 1
There is a constellation of serious issues piling up on the desk of our new Health Minister, Jane Philpott. There’s how to legalize cannabis, while ensuring medicinal marijuana is accessible and of high quality. Simultaneously, the government must manage health warnings that should be applied as healthy people look to cannabis as a recreational drug. There’s […]
