Special to Canadian Dimension

After a day of giving checkups, prescribing drugs and hearing about symptoms, one New Brunswick family physician wasn’t surprised to read a Harvard Medical School study released this month, stating Canada’s public healthcare system outperformed its U.S. counterpart in economic efficiency and patient well being. (Keep reading…)

from http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature5.cfm?REF=601

What actually matters in election campaigns can get obscured by all the hubbub. (Keep reading…)

Many people like to think of Canada’s health care system as an example of “socialist” medicine. In reality, however, this label does not accurately reflect the true nature of the system. (Keep reading…)

November/December 2004

Following hard negotiations at the government conference centre in Ottawa in September, representatives of the federal and provincial governments hammered out a new deal for health care. This new deal promises $18 billion in its first six years and $41 billion over ten, promising to create more homecare, shorter treatment waiting times and a national drug strategy. An additional feature of the accord is an escalator clause, which is due to take effect in 2006-07. This escalator clause aims to boost transfer payments to the provinces by six per cent annually to keep pace with the increasing costs of health care. (Keep reading…)

January/February 2004 Issue

“It would at least be a small act of redemption if the same wealthy countries now provided low-cost generic anti-retrovirals to help diminish the scourge of AIDS.” This from Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa, in a September 25 address. Lewis was speaking of the wealthy western nations, whose position on agricultural subsidies at the Cancun round of WTO talks essentially dooms resource-rich Africa to continued poverty. Lewis also described the reaction of these countries as “mass murder by complacency.” Indeed, a slow, drawn-out holocaust is taking place in Africa — as we look on. (Keep reading…)