The government's plan to privatize hospital laundry services will have a negative impact on Saskatchewan's local economies. The decision to close five regional laundries and centralize laundry services through Alberta-based K-Bro Linen will decrease the income of the residents of Saskatchewan between $14 and $42 million over the next 10 years in comparison to public options. The laundry plant closure in Prince Albert alone will result in 74 jobs lost, cause a decline in labour income of $2.5 million in the region, and a decline in regional GDP of $3.7 million.
Health, health care system, pharmacare
The BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives welcomes the opportunity to share our views and recommendations in response to the question posed by the Select Standing Committee on Health: how can we create a cost-effective system of primary and community care built around interdisciplinary teams? We very much agree with the panel that answering this question is critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of a high quality, cost-effective public health system.
This report reviews research detailing the financial and social impacts of national pharmacare implementation abroad, and shifts in policy in Canada. It finds that implementing pharmacare for at least the 80 most commonly prescribed generic drugs would save governments almost a quarter of a billion dollars annually, while allowing everyone who needs those medicines to access them at little or no cost.
OTTAWA—Implementing the first phases of a national pharmacare program would significantly lower costs to taxpayers, while improving health outcomes and access to care, says a report released today by Canadian Doctors for Medicare (CDM) and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
Canada is the only country in the world that has a universal health care plan that doesn't include pharmacare. Canadians pay more for pharmaceuticals than almost any country in the world, with average drug prices 30% above the OECD average.
I practise public interest law. My files often involve basic questions affecting fundamental legal and economic arrangements in our society. The issues are often daunting. Fortunately I have lots of help from talented colleagues at Sack Goldblatt Mitchell. While we do our part, the following cases reflect the determination of civil society groups and progressive trade unions to defend our commons—the institutions and economic arrangements that were built to serve the collective or public interest.
Stealing from the Canadian Wheat Board
The last time the Supreme Court of Canada considered the constitutional status of Canada’s ban on assisted suicide (in Rodriguez, 1993), it voted narrowly to uphold the law. Now, in Lee Carter, it is revisiting the issues after a gap of 21 years.
An issue that needs to be addressed in the forthcoming Throne Speech on November 20th, is the persistence in Manitoba of a deep, complex and damaging poverty.
The long smouldering debate on physician-assisted suicide (PAS) flared up early this summer when on June 5 the Quebec National Assembly passed Bill 52, An Act respecting end-of-life care. The legislation gives patients in some situations the possibility of requesting medical aid in dying, widely considered a euphemism for euthanasia.
Inside this issue:
BC Jobs Plan reality check: The first two years by Iglika Ivanova
Legal safeguards for tenants are meaningless without enforcement by Kendra Milne
Anti-poverty movement, meet the culture of medicine by Dr. Vanessa Brcic
You always learn something when accountants feud by Keith Reynolds
BC’s “big favour”: Will LNG exports reduce global greenhouse gas emissions? by Marc Lee
Inside this issue:
The Ombudsperson’s Report on Seniors Care: A Brief Analysis of the Government’s (Non)Response by Marcy Cohen and Janine Farrell
Are we undermining our schools by not investing enough in education? by Iglika Ivanova
BC’s GHG targets and LNG: not compatible by Marc Lee
BC’s public sector pensions plans need to divest from fossil fuels by Marc Lee
Are big-five forest firms about to get a windfall? by Ben Parfitt