First female foreign affairs DM among several women promoted in latest civil service shuffle
The prime minister has appointed the first female deputy minister of foreign affairs, and is moving a top-level female Indigenous deputy minister as part of a number of recent executive-level public service staff changes promoting women. Marta Morgan is set to move from heading Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada to being Canada’s first female deputy […]
We must resist the shifting tide on refugee policy
Alan Kurdi. In case this name has escaped from memory over the past few years, surely the image has not; he was the “boy on the beach,” a Syrian child of only three years whose life was cut short by his cruel drowning in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach safety. Indeed, it was […]
‘For the people’? Ford’s health cuts show disconnect between rhetoric, reality
OTTAWA—It’s been nearly 20 years since seven people died and 2,300 became ill as a result of water contamination in the town of Walkerton, Ont.—the worst case of its kind in the country’s history. As Justice Dennis O’Connor concluded in a 2002 judicial inquiry report, the incident could in part be traced back directly to […]
Senators look for tweaks to national security bill
Senators are looking at ways to change the Liberals’ landmark national security reform bill, but it won’t get a particularly rough ride, says the opposition Conservative group. The Senate’s National Security and Defence Committee finally began its study of Bill C-59 on April 10, before the Chamber rose for a two-week Easter break. Committee scrutiny […]
Edible cannabis: countdown to the rocket launch
Less than a year ago, cannabis was legalized for recreational consumption. This was a measured, calculated legislative and policy change that passed under the world’s watchful gaze. Canada did not blow up in an incandescent ball of flames and smoke. Neither did the nation walk around in a stoned zombie trance of cannabis intoxicated citizens. […]
National dementia strategy ‘a step in the right direction,’ but critics concerned it’s underfunded
The government unveiled some funding details of the first-ever national dementia strategy its latest budget, but already it’s getting heat from critics, who say that while it’s a step in the right direction, the $50-million over five-year investment isn’t going to have the impact needed to address the growing public health issue. Dementia is an […]
Where asbestos kills and the feds won’t help
We should all know this: asbestos fibres in your lungs will make you sick and may kill you. Asbestos inhalation causes life-threatening diseases, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, and almost always prompts fatal cancer of the lining of the lung. Workplace compensation agencies in Canada received approximately 5,600 death claims for asbestos- related […]
Terry Fox’s legacy inspires federal government to pledge $150-million to create Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network
“I’ve said it to people before that I’m going to do my very best to make it; I’m not going to give up. But I might not make it…if I don’t, the Marathon of Hope better continue.” Terry Fox On April 16, 2016, Dr. Victor Ling, president and scientific director of the Terry Fox Research […]
The building blocks of drug coverage reforms in Canada
Canada’s current system of prescription drug coverage is a patchwork of policies, an inequitable, inefficient, and unsustainable patchwork without coherence or purpose. Some think more patches can solve the problem, but ultimately, the core problem is that it is a patchwork. Canadians pay among the highest cost per capita for prescription drugs, with among the […]
Can you predict a drug overdose?
The rate of illicit drug use and overdose in Canada is not slowing down. Overdose deaths and hospitalization from opioid poisoning are increasing at an alarming rate. In recent years, governments at every level have implemented a range of initiatives to negate the impact on their communities. Supervised consumptions sites, detox spaces, treatment centres, counselling, […]
