Other countries seeking out advice from Canada ahead of Trump return: Joly

LA RONGE, Sask. – Doctors in La Ronge, Sask., have treated 27 cases of scurvy within the last six months, bringing to light the severe impact of food insecurity in the province’s North.

Dr. Jeff Irvine told the news website larongeNow that a colleague was surprised to diagnose a case in May.

“The physician started to get some red flags from his other patients and started noticing that there’s even more signs and symptoms of scurvy in these other patients,” Irvine said.

“So they started testing more and more, and we’re finding more and more scurvy cases because of that now.”

The Lac La Ronge Indian Band hired Irvine to chair an investigation into vitamin C deficiency among members and the wider community. Of 50 vitamin C blood tests, 27 were confirmed to be deficient, pointing to scurvy, and 10 showed low levels. All patients were over 20 years old and 79 per cent were Indigenous.

Scurvy symptoms vary from fatigue and joint pain to hair changes, wounds not healing and loss of teeth.

The first case in La Ronge came almost by fluke. One of Dr. Yoseph Atreyu’s patients came to him with joint pain and, during examination, Atreyu noticed a curious pattern of corkscrew hairs on the person’s knee. He ordered a blood test, which showed vitamin C levels low enough to match a scurvy diagnosis.

Atreyu said he had thought scurvy would be a long shot.

“This person wasn’t low economic status, had a good paying job, ate well and was still having the issue,” he said. “This was the first case that I’ve confirmed. But thinking back in the past, I do wonder if I’ve seen it before.”

It’s also led him to wonder about more vulnerable populations, including children.

“I just don’t want to expose them to a poke for something that I know I can treat. I have been prescribing vitamin C a lot,” he said, noting some kids are coming to the clinic with low energy and dental issues symptomatic of scurvy.

Atreyu said in his research the only data he could draw upon was a nutritional status study in 2013. For the Prairies region, the sampling came from two urban sites. The overall results suggested 3.9 per cent of Canadians face vitamin C deficiency.

When looking for data for La Ronge or the Far North, there was none, something Irvine and Atreyu hope to change.

Despite scurvy’s rarity in modern medicine, the La Ronge diagnoses aligned with findings from a recent First Nations Food, Nutrition and Environment survey, which revealed 42 per cent of respondents couldn’t afford balanced meals. A 2022 Saskatchewan Health Authority report noted the average weekly cost of nutritious food for a family of four was about $291, rising to $358 in the North and $464 in the Far North.

Fresh produce is hard to come by in the La Ronge area, and foraging for it has seasonal limitations.

For local retailers, co-ordinating a delivery of fresh food isn’t usually worth the minimal profit. The long travel distance leads to spoilage and fuel costs increase the consumer price.

Traditional foods like rosehip, Labrador tea, spruce needles, fireweed and mint have higher levels of vitamin C. Moderate amounts can be found in animal heart, liver and kidneys. But obtaining those foods is weather-dependent.

Further north, the problem intensifies, and the solution for many is out of reach. The more pressing issue is the ongoing stress of meeting basic needs, including stable housing.

“You can’t be talking to people about healthy eating when they don’t have a place to live,” Irvine said.

In assessing how widespread the problem is, the test for scurvy suffers from similar challenges to food transport.

Samples must be kept in darkness at temperatures below -70 C and, because of limited lab capabilities in La Ronge, they are shipped on dry ice to a lab in Regina lab for testing.

In the Far North, these requirements present too large of a logistical hurdle, meaning blood drawing can only happen in La Ronge.

The doctors aim to obtain federal funding to get a more detailed picture of scurvy’s impacts. Atreyu and Irvine hope to partner with other doctors in Saskatchewan and share their findings nationally.

It costs about 33 cents a month to buy enough vitamin C over-the-counter to satisfy the body’s needs, Atreyu said, but it’s a matter of getting that information out to the masses.

“It’s a disease with a known cure.” (larongeNOW)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s new Liberal finance minister is projecting a deficit of $92.1 million for the current fiscal year, a reversal from the $40.9-million surplus budgeted last spring by the previous Progressive Conservative government.

René Legacy’s second quarter update released today shows a worsening situation since the last update in August, which pegged the deficit at $27.6 million.

He says that as of the end of September, total revenue this year is projected to be $118.8 million higher than budgeted.

Legacy attributes the revenue growth to an increase in conditional grants from the federal government and gains in both personal and corporate income tax.

However total expenses are projected to be over budget by $251.8 million, with the most significant spending coming from the Health Department — which is over budget by $193 million — mainly because of contracts with private firms to provide temporary nurses, also known as travel nurses.

The net debt is projected to be $12.2 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s NDP and Liberal leaders attacked Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston’s claims of reviving the province’s ailing health-care system, citing patient horror stories during a televised debate Thursday.

As Houston stuck to his argument that his government inherited “a mess” that it has started to stabilize, Liberal Leader Zach Churchill responded by saying that the number of people on a wait list seeking family doctors has gone from 60,000 when the Liberals governed to recent figures of about 145,000.

“If we continue on this track, there are going to be half a million people in this province without a doctor, and that’s going to be devastating for the health system and for people’s health,” said Churchill.

Houston countered by saying the system had crumbled under 12 years of NDP and Liberal governments, arguing. “We were taking over from parties that were inactive in health care.”

The Progressive Conservative leader — who is running for a second term in the Nov. 26 election — conceded improvement to the system “is taking time,” while saying that since 2021 there has been a net gain of 250 doctors, with more coming through programs to train physicians and speed up certification for foreign-trained doctors.

He said that there are one million more “appointment opportunities” for patients than when his government took office, as his government has opened more clinics and allowed health-care professionals such as pharmacists to take on wider scopes of practice.

However, NDP Leader Claudia Chender responded by telling the story of a young mother who waited for 14 hours with her feverish child in an emergency room, saying this is “completely unacceptable and it’s because of a lack of primary care.” The NDP is promising to create 15 collaborative care clinics in its first year of government.

During an exchange with Houston, Churchill claimed that despite hundreds of millions in added spending on health, “there are more mice than staff” at Halifax’s Victoria General hospital.

Chender also sharply criticized Houston after he noted a health-care app pioneered by the Tories had “opened up access” to care for people facing a mental health crisis in the middle of the night. The NDP leader said, “what we need is actual resources to help people when they need it.”

The debate hosted by CBC grew lively over Houston’s argument that his government would be the most effective in reducing inflation because he has opposed implementing carbon pricing on fuel.

“I am the only one that will stand up to the carbon tax. I know the Liberals want a carbon tax under a different name. It’s still a carbon tax, it impacts the price of everything. The best thing we can do with affordability … is stand up to the carbon tax,” he said.

Chender said she found it ironic that Houston was saying he was the voice of action, “when all you do is blame Ottawa for the challenges that people are facing today in Nova Scotia.”

Churchill, meanwhile, noted the “carbon tax is still here …. We will end the carbon tax by bringing in a cap-and-trade system that will do our part to reduce emissions, give money back to you so you can pay for your heat pumps, get rebates for your electric vehicles and it will also take 10 to 15 cents off at the pump.”

“Mr. Houston would rather kick and scream and whine than actually do his job and negotiate a better deal for you,” said the Liberal leader.

That led to the assertion by Houston — one he has made frequently during the campaign — that he alone is untethered to a federal party.

“I’m the only leader on this stage that is only looking out for the interests of Nova Scotians and not beholden to a political party. The NDP are beholden to Jagmeet Singh in Ottawa, the Liberals are beholden to Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. I am only beholden to Nova Scotians,” he said.

At the dissolution of the 55-seat legislature, the Progressive Conservatives held 34 seats, the Liberals had 14 seats, the NDP held six and there was one independent member. Recent polls show the Tories with a sizable lead over the other two parties.

The debate also included some sharp exchanges over Houston’s credibility after he jettisoned several promises made in the last election.

The Progressive Conservative leader said, “Everything that I tell you, I believe in my heart we can do …. I believe I’ve shown Nova Scotians that when new information comes available or when I can see that I’m wrong, I have the courage to change path.”

But Churchill responded that Houston’s failure to keep a promise to hold the election on a fixed date — which would have been next summer — was a signal he’s more interested in gaining power than being accountable.

“This election is not about you, it’s about him,” he told viewers.

The Liberal leader said he would not seek re-election if he were unable to keep his promises. “Even through the hard times when the public pressure shifts and the headlines get bad, you can’t govern like a wet noodle in the wind,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette.