Search results for “site/Pat Armstrong”

  • BC isn’t broke: putting teacher bargaining in perspective

    Last Monday, BC teachers held a Day of Action in communities across the province to protest the BC government’s decision to legislate a contract and put an end to their collective bargaining process. I was invited to speak to teachers at the Surrey rally, where I had the opportunity to…

  • Fast Facts: Wealth Care vs Health Care

    The debate around the private financing of Canada’s health care system has recently been revived as one of a series of video shorts on human rights issues in Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum of Human Rights. It discusses a Supreme Court hearing in which Quebec’s prohibition on private insurance to cover procedures…

  • February 2004: Poisoning the Environment — Free

    Polluters are supposed to pay clean-up costs–but they don’t What is remarkable about the latest environmental law decision from the Supreme Court of Canada is not how ecologically enlightened the Court is (since a series of previous cases had already demonstrated the Justices’ “green” wisdom), but rather the breadth of…

  • From the ground up: Building a successful Early Learning and Child Care System in Nova Scotia

    The Nova Scotia government has announced that it will introduce a new free pre-primary program for children turning four by the end of December 2017. While there are many reasons to be concerned about the implementation of this program, the good news is that the government is investing in the…

  • Fast Facts: Valley of Despair in Manitoba Health Care

    First published in the Winnipeg Free Press April 8, 2019 The overhaul of Manitoba’s health care system has been met with repeated calls to slow down from those on the front lines of care. The consistent and persistent stories from patients and front line workers alike detailing chaos and upheaval…

  • Polling on taxes – response to a critic

    On November 29, the CCPA released an opinion research study led by myself and Randy Galawan called Beyond the 1%: What British Columbians think about taxes, inequality and public services. The study involved an extensive online survey (poll) of a broad sample of British Columbians, conducted by Environics Research, and…

  • Ontario Alternative Budget

    Ontario Has Options

    Alternative fiscal paths for the 2019 budget Download 538.93 KB 19 pages The Progressive Conservatives are using financial fearmongering as a cover for cutting funding for public services. This paper outlines two alternative fiscal paths that maintain and enhance services while reducing Ontario’s deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio. Both alternative budget…

  • Ontario Alternative Budget

    ‘Ontario Has Options’ for Budget 2019

    Report outlines how province can maintain services while reducing the deficit CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL REPORT TORONTO—A new report released today shows the Ontario government has options that would allow it to reduce the provincial deficit while maintaining and enhancing public services, as long as the province begins…

  • The Attack on Organics

    Anti-organics study funded by Cargill and other corporations Food issues have been much in the news recently, but I want to focus on what can only be called an attempt to trash organic food and organic farming – an attempt that, as we shall see, fits into a larger agenda.…

  • Evidence is in: privately funded health care doesn’t reduce wait times

    Current public dialogue is full of questions about what kind of innovation or “revamping” the health system needs. In this context, as a physician, I am compelled to apply principles of evidence-based practice to the public vs. private debate: Will Brian Day’s plan to expand privately funded health care in…

  • Book review – Just cool it! The climate crisis and what we can do

    The following is a review of Just cool it! The climate crisis and what we can do by David Suzuki and Ian Hanington, published by Greystone Books/David Suzuki Institute. Two passages in the introduction to this book encapsulate the situation that confronts us as the effects of global warming become more serious every…

  • December 2007: No Excuse For Denying Drug Coverage

    It’s time to end Canadians’ long wait for Pharmacare Canadians have been waiting for Pharmacare since the early 1960s when it was proposed by the Royal Commission on Health Care. However, despite repeated promises in the ensuing decades from the National Forum on Health and even the Liberal party itself…