Long-term care beds falling well short of need
The Auditor General reports that the stock of long-term care beds in Ontario has grown only 3% since 2004-5. Over seven years (until 2011-12) that means an annual average growth…
Doug Allan
Should we tolerate secrecy for public health care?
It’s amusing to review the course of events that led to the revelation of the secrecy concerning the problems at private surgical and diagnostic clinics. The doctors lobbied to move…
More cuts to Ontario deficit coming in January
The Ontario government’s Fall Economic Outlook retroactively confirmed that the 2011-12 deficit was $2 billion less than set out in the 2012 provincial budget. It also lopped $400 million off…
Liberals prevent public reporting of failed private clinics
Queen's Park in Darkeness (Grant MacDonald) Yesterday I fumed about the gall of one academic who claimed that privatized P3s (public private partnerships) had actually increased public transparency. Even more…
P3 transparency? Hardly: private profit prefers privacy
The corruption scandal rocking a public private partnership (P3) hospital project in Quebec has raised some significant doubts about P3s in Canada. Over the weekend even the normally pro-privatization Financial…
P3 corporations give award for crap financing deal
Nouveau CHUM The Canadian Council for Public Private Partnerships has honoured the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), the Collectif Santé Montréal (CSM) and Infrastructure Québec with its 2012…
More privatization via Liberal "community care"
Health care privatization continues to come to Ontario via the Liberal government's version of "community care." Most obviously this comes by moving services from public hospitals to poorly regulated and…
P3 costs rise as scandal sours investors
MUHC The Washington Post reports that the sales "of Canadian project-finance bonds are lower this year as an ongoing investigation of alleged corruption in the Quebec construction industry makes the…
No progress on hospital superbugs
There has been no progress stopping the spread of superbugs in Ontario hospitals according to government data. Reported C. difficile rates are about the same as they have been, starting…
Moving patients from public hospitals to private retirement homes
Health Sciences North hospital in Sudbury is planning to replace 30 hospital beds with a 25 bed unit inside a private retirement home, the CBC reports. OCHU/CUPE members protest earlier…
Mississauga-Halton gets bigger homecare increase
Another home care funding announcement came out today, this time for Mississauga-Halton. Mississauga The news this time was a little better, with a 4.1% funding increase for home care via…
McGuinty government demands multiple concessions
As expected, the McGuinty government has made a long series of concession demands at the OPSEU "OPS" negotiations, where OPSEU is bargaining on behalf of 36,000 provincial civil servants. Here…
PCs rule out legislative wage freeze deal with McGuinty
The Progressive Conservatives have -- effectively -- all but ruled out reaching an agreement with the McGuinty government on a legislative public sector "wage freeze".While complaining that the McGuinty government…
Elderly pushed out of hospitals: Elder Advocate
Jane Meadus of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly says that some seniors are being pushed out of hospital too soon under the province's Home First policy, the Ottawa Citizen…
Home and community care funding less than promised
The announcements of new "home and community care" funding (which started last week) continue, this time for the Ottawa area. Home care activists First the good news. The $7.15 million…
Tiny cracks appear in Liberal attack on collective bargaining
After the architects of the Liberal attack on collective bargaining (Premier McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan) announced their exit from provincial politics, the first, very modest, move away from…