This study examines the possible effects of the TPP on how Canada regulates medicines and how much the country spends paying for them. It finds that the TPP would require Canada to extend patent terms to compensate brand-name pharmaceutical firms for regulatory delays in approving drugs. This policy change could add $636 million annually to the price of drugs in Canada. The agreement will restrict future policy options in these areas in ways that benefit brand-name producers over consumers and the broader public interest.
Health, health care system, pharmacare
This study examines the effects of the TPP on the Canadian public health care system. It finds that the TPP investor protections would make it more difficult and costly for Canadian governments to establish new public health programs, including pharmacare, which is on the agenda of ongoing federal-provincial health talks.
The overarching impacts of the proposed treaty would be to weaken the Canadian public health care system, undermine health regulation, and obstruct efforts to renew and expand public health care in the face of new challenges.
OTTAWA – As Canada prepares to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand this week, two new studies from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reveal significant risks and high public costs to the Canadian health care system within the text of the agreement.
Culture, acquired taste and past experience shape people’s food preferences (Adekunle et.al, 2010, 2011, and 2012) and their willingness to acculturate in a new country. As people are forced to migrate from Africa, South Asia and Middle East to Canada, there is a need to ensure that they are not worse off in their new country. This is necessary because the prevailing migration pattern causes some people to live with food insecurity.
“The root causes of neglect—including poverty, poor housing, food insecurity, and substance abuse—lie beyond the scope of the child welfare system to resolve. But a collaborative approach, working with parents and harnessing the collective resources of child welfare and other provincial government departments, other levels of government, and the province’s many community-based organizations, can make a difference for vulnerable families.” Honourable Ted Hughes, 2014)
Supportive Housing is an important model on the housing continuum and a positive choice for many people living with mental illness. Whether it is because a person faces greater challenges or because they do not wish to live alone, supportive housing, commonly referred to as “group homes”, holds the potential of being a place where residents may develop a greater sense of personal community, as well as providing the additional safety and support that comes with round the clock staff.
This book reports on the findings of an international team of 26 researchers and more than 50 graduate students who went to six countries in a search for promising practices in long term residential care for the elderly. It presents concrete examples of how long term care might be organized and undertaken in more promising ways that respect the needs of residents, families, workers and managers.
This week my dad will be discharged from hospital in time to vote in the federal election. After receiving exemplary service from palliative care and the organ transplant team, we know what compassionate and high quality healthcare looks like. We also know how important it is to vote for a government that will stand up for – and scale up – examples of high quality healthcare in Canada.
Throughout grade school, my dad took me with him to vote. Before I knew anything about politics, I understood my parents’ pride in voting and democracy.
This study finds that federal underfunding and understaffing of safety inspectors are putting employees in federally regulated workplaces sector in harm’s way. The study examines occupational health and safety developments between 2007 and 2012 in sectors under federal jurisdiction, including banking, communications, broadcasting, postal services, road, air, rail and water transport, as well as the federal government.
Cette étude est disponible en français: Des changements qui s’imposent.
Selon cette étude, le financement fédéral insuffisant et le manque d’inspecteurs de sécurité mettent en danger les employés dans le secteur des lieux de travail sous réglementation fédérale. L’étude analyse les événements survenus en santé et sécurité au travail entre 2007 et 2012 dans les secteurs de compétence fédérale, y compris ceux des opérations bancaires, des communications, de la radiodiffusion, des services postaux, du transport routier, aérien, ferroviaire et maritime, sans oublier l’administration fédérale.