People Need Less Money to Live As They Get Older? If Only.

 Pension plans for teachers, hospital workers and public servants target of study hype By Michael Wolfson Last week the C.D. Howe Institute released a short study just in time for the finance ministers’ meeting – rolling out the tired, old argument that as people age, they do not need as much money

Reforming Healthcare Funding to Address the Needs of Our Aging Population

 Why we need a publicly funded insurance program for home care and long-term care By Réjean Hébert Funding home care and long-term care is fast becoming the main challenge of our outdated medicare system – a system developed in the mid-twentieth century for a young population that mostly required acute

We Must Speak for Those Who Can’t

 Hospitals and health facilities across the country are not equipped to deal with physician-hastened death. On June 6, the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision making physician-hastened death legal will come into effect. A parliamentary committee asked to help the government plot how that would roll out in Canada has made

Canadian Commissionaires Go Beyond Security

 You probably see a Commissionaire or two every day. You may even spot one when you’re travelling through an airport. They stand out with their white or blue crisp button down-shirts, sweaters and epaulettes, and you may notice that some are wearing military medals too. That’s because Commissionaires are primarily

Canadians Should Modernize not Privatize Medicare

 National Medicare Week has just passed, buoyed with optimism as a fresh-faced government takes the reins in Ottawa – elected partly on a promise of renewed federal leadership on health care.  Yet these “sunny ways” are overcast by recent developments at the provincial level that entrench and legitimize two-tier care. Saskatchewan

Dear Health Minister Philpott — We Need Leadership In Medicare Restored

 Dear Minister Philpott, It is fantastic news that as a family doctor you are our next federal health minister.  You will know very well that our healthcare system shows its age.  Born in the middle of the 20th century, its primary focus on doctors and hospitals is outmoded as technology

Magnifique Martinique: So Much More than a Simple Beach Vacation

 The idyllic, beautiful island of Martinique sits just north of St. Lucia in the Caribbean Sea. The Dutch, English and Portuguese all wanted this tiny island, but it was the French who prevailed. Consequently, French is spoken everywhere. Words do not fly off the tongue quite as quickly as they

Seniors are not the Wealthy Generation Despite Recent Media Hype

 Why we need to invest in affordable housing, homecare and long-term care for seniors Working as an advocate for seniors’ issues can feel like pushing water uphill. Yet, after a challenging few years which has seen headlines of flood and fire, bad food, bed sores and a chronic shortage of

The Hidden World of the First World War

 Imagine exploring the French countryside only to discover underground cities belonging to the soldiers of the First World War. Well that is exactly the situation Jeffrey Gusky, American doctor, artist and explorer, found himself in—and now he is sharing it with you! In conjunction with National Geographic, Gusky shows his

Haven of Hope: Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre

 Maybe you have a cough that won’t go away, or maybe a lump appears in your breast. You head to your doctor to get checked out, just to be on the safe side, hoping to be told it is nothing to worry about. Instead, tests you hoped were just routine

Are we taking too many pills?

 By Jennifer Paterson More Canadians are taking prescription medicine than ever before. Many busy people believe in the don't-think-twice, pop-it-in-your-mouth, "magic bullet" cure for all illness and disease. Total drug expenditures per Canadian were tallied at $681 in 2004 — up almost 8 per cent from 2003, according to a