Med students call for federal action on health human resources management
Despite a record number of practising physicians, Canadians continue to face lengthy wait times, 15 per cent don’t have a family doctor, and a growing number of recently-trained specialists are facing unemployment. Medical students are the latest group to call on the feds to step up and play a leadership role in managing Canada’s […]
Playing violin for your health; lifestyle changes work when you choose something you love
CALGARY, ALTA.—Now that we’ve kicked off a new year, not a day passes without some news outlet asking me for tips on healthy living. What do I need to eat more (or less) of? What type of exercise is best and how many minutes a day do I need? My answer generally comes down […]
Baby boomers looking to right public health care, not drain it
CALGARY, ALTA.—Should we baby boomers be feeling guilty now that everyone else seems to have finally clued in to the developed world’s worst-kept secret: there are lots of us, we didn’t have enough children of our own to replenish the taxpayer base, and we didn’t contribute enough in taxes to cover our future health […]
Governments keep saying they’re going to ‘fix’ health-care system
Governments keep telling Canadians how they are going to “fix” the health-care system. Yet many problems are actually getting worse, including longer wait-lists for diagnosis and surgery, over-crowded emergency rooms, and increasing shortages of family doctors. While in general we are living longer, there are worrying developments. Particularly disturbing is the numbers of illnesses […]
A sustainable ‘supply and needs-based’ HHR Strategy is not just a numbers game
The Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) reports that the supply of physicians is increasing at the same rate as in the 1980s, three times the rate of the population. While this is encouraging given the physician shortage, this should not be taken at face-value, given that there are currently three million Canadians without […]
It’s time to reduce our national consumption of salt
What if I told you about a common-sense step that would save thousands of lives each year, reduce the burden on our health-care system, and cost next to nothing to implement? What if this step was already in place in leading industrialized nations? I am putting forward a private member’s bill that would progressively […]
Health Canada, Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse working on a strategy to address prescription drug abuse
The abuse of prescription drugs, including oxycodone, is a serious and complex problem that destroys the lives of individuals and the fabric of communities. These drugs help to alleviate the suffering of many Canadians, and have emerged as an important part of pain management under the supervision of health-care professionals. But opioids are also […]
We need to bring people together to turn research into innovation, innovation into enterprise
OTTAWA—In September, Site Selection, a prestigious American trade publication aimed at business executives who determine the location for new production facilities, ranked Hamilton as the top Canadian city for companies interested in launching new industrial development projects or expanding existing ones. When commenting on the ranking, Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina pointed out how his […]
Don’t trade off science policy for innovation policy
OTTAWA—Innovation is a word that is used a lot—too often perhaps—but it is rarely succinctly defined. In a recent document issued by the Institute for Science, Society and Policy, Canada’s Future as an Innovative Society: A Decalogue of Policy Criteria, we define this concept as follows (with thanks to Peter Nicholson): “Innovation occurs whenever […]
Canadians clearly deserve better from their science advisory apparatus
OTTAWA—“It is not enough for scientists to have responsibility as citizens. They have a much greater one than that and different in kind. For scientists have a moral imperative to say what they know. It is going to make them unpopular. It may do worse than make them unpopular. That doesn’t matter.”—C.P. Snow. By […]
