Former cabinet minister Bradshaw remembered for ‘generosity and selflessness’
Claudette Bradshaw, a former Liberal cabinet minister who served in the cabinets of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, was memorialized as a trailblazer following her death March 26 at the age of 72. “The loss of Claudette Bradshaw … will be deeply felt by everyone in our community. Thank you Claudette for blazing a path—from […]
Medical professionals’ discomfort with digital tech is stumbling block to spread of AI in health care, say experts
Medical professionals’ lack of comfort with new digital technologies is a major challenge that will need to be overcome as Health Canada develops the regulatory framework to support the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical devices, according to experts. “In medicine, there’s a huge divide between the IT side of the organization and the […]
Five barriers to the commercialization of medical AI research
Consistent and significant investments in AI research in Canada have resulted in globally recognized centres of academic excellence across the country. The often-repeated challenge moving forward is to translate that academic work into commercial success. Based on my experience spinning off two companies developing technologies using AI in the medical space from the University of […]
Tuberculosis cases surge amid the twin crises of COVID and conflict
You may have noticed that landmarks across Canada, from Niagara Falls, to the CN Tower, to the Victoria Legislature, glowed red last week. On March 24, World TB Day, these were some of the 44 landmarks across Canada that advocates ensured were lit up in red to draw attention to the fact that tuberculosis (TB), […]
Canada needs a mental health transfer to put national standards into practice
Think back to those early days of the pandemic, when there was an outpouring of “caremongering” and support for elderly neighbours needing groceries, and for healthcare workers on the front lines. We put handmade signs in our windows and we believed that we were all in this together. In doing hard things for the greater […]
Procurement revamp can create greater access for historically marginalized communities
Procurement practices and policies rarely dominate news headlines or dinner table conversations in Canada. At least, that was the case before two long pandemic years during which federal procurement was at the forefront of Canada’s response to COVID-19. From the great rush to secure personal protective equipment (PPE) to the international vaccine acquisition tussle that […]
COVID-19 derails global quest to end tuberculosis
The health inequities made clear by COVID-19—like the hoarding and accompanied famine of vaccines between wealthy and low-income countries—reinforce a fact that those working and living with neglected diseases like tuberculosis have long known to be true: power relations dictate whose lives are worth saving and whose are not. Before COVID-19, tuberculosis (TB) was the […]
In ‘backdoor socialism’ we trust?
OTTAWA—Seems like I just dislodged myself enough from Candice Bergen’s socialist backdoor to realize that something just shifted in Canadian politics—and not soon enough. Late Monday night, CBC reported that the Liberals and the NDP entered into a supply and confidence agreement until 2025. What this means is that the NDP will support the Liberals […]
Hard-hit downtown Ottawa businesses looking to rebound after COVID, convoy shutdowns
Following two years of a pandemic, with tens of thousands of public servants working remotely and only now starting to come back into their workplaces, local businesses, employees, and residents who frequent the area in and around the Parliamentary Precinct have been hit hard. In addition to the pandemic’s disruption, further dislocation associated with “Freedom […]
Lack of leadership to unite Canadians could bring in American-style divisive politics in Canada, warn political insiders
The lack of leadership at the federal level to unite Canadian could bring in American-style divisive politics in the country which means politics will be a lot more about emotion and less about finding the best way forward, warn political insiders. “It means we move along to the same path, the Americans have moved on […]
