Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Ray Grigg explains how Idle No More and other decentralized social movements may make for a crucial counterweight to the Harper Cons and their command-and-control philosophy: Systems are always bigger and more complex than the individuals who try to control them. So political
Continue readingTag: Health Care
wmtc: must-watch video: how canadian women won abortion rights and what we must do to keep them
The Harper anti-choice brigade is back in the news, this time taking aim at a different abortion controversy to try to chip away at our fundamental rights. Wladyslaw Lizon – sadly, the MP for my own riding – is holding forth against later-term procedures. (You may remember Lizon’s name through
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Is Premier Alison Redford’s bitter fight with the docs about money, or control?
Who’s in change here? Progressive Conservative MLAs get ready to supervise the work of an Alberta Health Services medical team while Alberta voters look on. Health officials, physicians and electors may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: AMA President Dr. Michael Giuffre; a space invader Is the increasingly bitter fight
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Why is Alberta studying seniors’ care at the same time as it’s privatizing it?
Coming soon to seniors’ centres in Alberta, a new model of elder care? Below: Health Minister Fred Horne. On Monday, Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne announced a year-long project to study seniors’ residential centres and figure out the best way to fund and run them. Sounds good, lots of Albertans
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The dubious case for casinos
I got way off my usual research agenda this morning for a business panel on CBC radio. The topic was the economics of casinos, the result of the City of Surrey voting down a new casino proposal. I have often disparagingly compared stock markets to casinos, but in fact I
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Inquiry testimony suggests pricey private clinics – nudge-nudge, wink-wink – really can engineer preferential access
Wheeling and dealing: Staff of private clinics use advanced clinical techniques to decide which patients go to the front of the line for quick medical tests. Alberta medical insiders may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Retired judge John Vertes, Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne. What appears to be the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Misleading with statistics: the Fraser Institute on health care and ‘value for money’
This just in! The latest mainstream media news straight from the Vancouver studios of the Fraser Institute, complete with no fact checking! No sooner noted than illuminated – yesterday morning mainstream media was credulously reporting another “Fraser Factoid,” this one a report by the far-right political lobby group purporting to
Continue readingwmtc: updates: acupuncture, slow cooker, star trek
I decided to try acupuncture again. In October, I saw my nephew and niece-in-law who practice Traditional Chinese Medicine and other holistic healing methods. They encouraged me to use our small insurance benefit on more treatment, even though I can’t afford to continue it past that. I purposely started in
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, close personal…
Margaret Thatcher, former British prime minister, close personal friend of murderous dictator Augusto Pinochet, and idol of capitalist extremists everywhere, was in hospital just before Christmas to have a growth removed from her bladder. Unfortunately her spokeswoman said she is doing “absolutely fine”, despite experiencing serious health problems in recent
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Thomas Walkom discusses the meaning of the Ontario Libs’ attempt to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers in the context of the wider labour movement: The union movement is one of the last remnants of the great postwar pact between labour,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Is Canadian Progressivism a Farce?
The topic came up recently in a discussion I had with a prolific and thoroughly progressive blogger who will go unnamed. He lamented that he had become fed up with Canadian prog bloggers who seemed not terribly interested in progressivism at all and, by contrast, far less interesting than their
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: "Sousa sounded and looked very much like a man who would be comfortable as the next premier of the province."
Like the Sousa campaign on Facebook!Follow Charles on Twitter! This article is a couple days old now, but I wanted to post it to show the extremely positive reception Charles received talking to local business leaders in Mississauga, while also outlining his vision to create jobs and grow the economy to
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Scenes from an Inquiry: No fireworks as Ron Liepert and Lynn Redford testify
Lynn Redford, the Alberta Premier’s sister, stars in Scenes from an Inquiry, directed by Ingmar Bergman, or someone with a similarly Nordic directorial touch. Below: Former Alberta health minister Ron Liepert chooses his colour for a game of chess with retired justice John Vertes. Actual inquiry participants may or may
Continue readingwmtc: doctors vs jason kenney: the fight continues
The Harper Government continues to scapegoat the most vulnerable among us, demonizing refugee claimants, denying them due process, forcing them out of Canada. Yesterday we heard that four people arrested at the border were part of a human smuggling ring. Peter Showler, director of the Refugee Forum at the University
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Docs call health minister liar, liar, scrubs on fire, but their ad fails to persuade
The docs’ advertisement. Below: AMA President Dr. Michael Giuffre. The Alberta Medical Association, the province’s most powerful trade union, has gone back to the familiar ground of buying newspaper advertisements to call Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne and the Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Alison Redford a bunch of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, giving credit to the Saskatchewan Party for eventually doing the right thing in funding refugee health expenses – but questioning their selective and PR-motivated claim to compassion.For further reading…The timeline on the issue of refugee heal…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading.- Michael Geist notes that even as the Harper Cons have done nothing but hand more free money to big pharma through ever more generous patent giveaways, the Supreme Court of Canada has offered a reminder of the …
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Go Back To Sleep America, At Your Own Peril
I never reprint other people’s writings, no matter how good – but I will make an exception for this. This article is a true must-read. Please, take the time to read it. Then act. Good morning America. It’s time for a new day. Kudos and warm thanks to Jill Dalton
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- Diana Carney discusses the public’s growing recognition of inequality in Canada:I see three root causes of our concern with inequality in Canada (three seems to be the magic number). First, there is a general l…
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Expense account outrages? Only in government, you say? Puleeze!
Executives of Covenant Health enjoy a bottle of 2001 Il Piggione over lunch at Edmonton’s Characters Restaurant. Catholic health care executives may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Liberalbertaliberal Leader Raj Sherman. Alberta’s health care gong show continued to wheeze along yesterday with another revelation by the CBC that a couple of senior execs at …
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