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Another protest against COVID mandates sparked by the “Freedom Convoy” is expected in Toronto on Saturday. Police are preparing with road closures and tightened security in the area surrounding Queen’s Park.
Police deployed to remove the protesters blocking the Ambassador Bridge at the border crossing between Windsor and Detroit, but hours later they were still there
Another protest against COVID mandates sparked by the “Freedom Convoy” is expected in Toronto on Saturday. Police are preparing with road closures and tightened security in the area surrounding Queen’s Park.
This comes as blockades continue at Canada-U.S. border crossings and in communities across the country, demanding that all COVID-19 mandates be lifted. On Friday, a court granted an injunction banning the blockade at Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario. Also on Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency that could see protesters in the province receiving large fines.
In Ottawa, where the protests first began weeks ago, hundreds of trucks and protesters still remain with no sign of leaving.
Canadians aren’t the only ones being impacted by the trucker convoy. It also fuelled protests around the world, from France to Australia.
Here’s our coverage from today.
In Windsor, the standoff between Canadian police and protesters blocking a key bridge to the United States continued more than seven hours after authorities moved in seeking to end the blockade of the important trade corridor.
The crowd of protesters, however, had grown significantly, with new arrivals joining the street-party atmosphere on foot as police had blocked off access roads and were ticketing and towing vehicles parked nearby.
Demonstrators opposing the government’s strict pandemic restrictions have occupied the Ambassador Bridge for the fifth straight day, snarling international trade and prompting President Joe Biden to call for an end to the siege. But there was still no sign when traffic would resume.
Protests are also continuing across British Columbia this weekend led by residents voicing their displeasure with pandemic-related mandates.
Protesters lined the streets of downtown Victoria sporting Canadian flags, holding signs and waving to honking vehicles doing laps around the provincial legislature.
Victoria police have said they were expecting traffic disruptions caused by “large protests” and have temporarily deployed closed-circuit TV cameras in the area to support “public safety.”
Hundreds of protesters are still occupying a stretch of Huron Church Road in Windsor, Ont., near the Ambassador Bridge.
Efforts to clear the area surrounding the bridge have hit a standstill, with more adults and children trickling in this afternoon.
Some people are playing music while others are chanting or honking horns. A drone is flying above the protest site.
Police officers are standing in a line and blocking the entrance to the bridge, with two armoured vehicles and police cruisers behind them.
In Alberta, the Canada Border Services Agency says services at the border crossing at Coutts, Alta. have been temporarily suspended.
A protest by people opposed to COVID-19 public health restrictions has impeded or outright blocked access to the normally busy border crossing for two weeks.
The CBSA says in a news release that the ports of North Portal and Regway in Saskatchewan, and Rooseville and Kingsgate in British Columbia are the closest alternative processing sites for commercial traffic.
But it warns that “due to evolving circumstances” travellers should check the CBSA website for updates.
Meanwhile, RCMP in Manitoba say an officer will be stationed at an access point to a hospital in anticipation of a protest on Highway 3 near Winkler and Morden today.
Police advise in a news release that if anyone gets caught up in a convoy while trying to access the Boundary Trails Health Centre between the two communities, they should call 911 for help.
A man from Morden said earlier this week that he was delayed for close to an hour on Highway 3 while trying to drive his 82-year-old sister to the facility, and a spokesperson for the Southern Health regional authority said ambulances were also delayed.
Provincial RCMP also note that some traffic like emergency vehicles and agricultural trucks are being allowed to pass at a blockade near the border crossing at Emerson, Man. But all four lanes of Highway 75 at Provincial Road 200 near the community are blocked and motorists should avoid Emerson altogether.
Police in Windsor, Ontario have begun to clear out people who’ve been blocking the Ambassador Bridge between Canada with Detroit. But traffic from Detroit to Windsor remains halted.
Officers in yellow vests gathered in rows near the bridge in Windsor, warning the protesters verbally they could face criminal charges if they continue to occupy roadways.
As police slowly backed protesters up Windsor’s Huron Church Road and away from the bridge, they were also shutting down streets throughout the city in an effort to keep more vehicles from joining the demonstration. They were creating an ever-widening perimeter around downtown and the neighborhood that holds the main demonstration site.
Dozens of demonstrators have backed up but refused to leave. Tow trucks have arrived to move their vehicles. A number of the protesters moved to the middle of the roadway and began singing the Canadian national anthem. Some chanted “Freedom,” confronted officers or shouted profanities at them.
Police in Windsor, Ont. Continued to push back protesters in one of the largest shows of force against the Freedom convoy in Canada.
Officers with the Windsor Police Service, the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and others started moving in on the roughly 200 remaining protesters near the Ambassador Bridge around mid-morning. The officers were supported by two RCMP armoured vehicles and several police cruisers.
The demonstrators fell back from the site, even as protesters who had gathered in other communities to resist vaccine mandates, pandemic-related restrictions and other issues watched via livestreamed video and shouted encouragement.
“Let’s go Windsor,” one supporter called over a channel on a messaging application used by the demonstrators. “Hold that line.”
In Ottawa, hundreds of people and dozens of trucks remained dug in front of Parliament Hill and around downtown, where many have been parked since the end of January.
Protesters have torn down a fence that was erected around the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
The fence had been set up after the first weekend of demonstrations in the capital, when some protesters stood and danced on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the memorial.
Police stood by and watched as dozens of demonstrators tore down the fence before gathering around the monument dedicated to Canada’s war dead.
No one was seen standing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was covered in flowers, and it wasn’t immediately clear where the fence had gone.
At an intersection one block away from Parliament, demonstrators had taken over a parking lot and were blasting music as passersby danced. Trucks began honking their horns continuously in the area as police officers sat parked in nearby vehicles.
A stage had been set up on the street in front of Parliament Hill where a line-up of speakers was set to address the crowd.
The Ottawa Police Service reported some demonstrators “exhibited aggressive behaviour” by refusing to follow directions and even overwhelming officers.
Toronto-Dominion Bank has frozen two personal bank accounts into which $1.4 million had been deposited in support of the protesters, a spokesperson said on Saturday.
Canadian police have said the protests have been partly funded by U.S. supporters and Ontario froze funds donated via one U.S. platform, GiveSendGo, on Thursday.
Toronto was also bracing for a second weekend of protests. The Toronto Police have the downtown core locked down, not allowing vehicles near the provincial legislature at Queen’s Park.
A few hundred people have gathered peacefully near the Ontario legislature. Armed with Canadian flags and placards, the crowd of varied ages cheered as one of the emcees said the event was about freedom.
Most of the placards target Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but one self-professed supporter of the People’s Party of Canada also voiced opposition to Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Meantime, a convoy of motorists in the United States is planning to head to the waterfront in Port Huron, Michigan, in support of protesters in Canada. Another U.S. group said two separate vehicle convoys will converge this weekend at the Peace Bridge, another U.S.-Canadian border crossing in Buffalo, New York.
Police in Windsor, Ontario are cutting off access to the Canadian-U.S. border by forming a line at an intersection just south of the Ambassador Bridge.
The officers are slowly approaching the crowd of roughly 150 protesters, as they can be heard chanting “freedom,” in order to push them further from the site. Protesters remain despite the warning from police that their vehicles will be towed and that they can be charged with mischief if they block traffic.
In Ottawa, there have been a total of 26 arrests — including two for public intoxication — as of Saturday morning. There are 140 active criminal offence investigations in relation to the demonstration, they said in a press release. There have been 2,600 tickets issued by Bylaw and Police Services. Ottawa police said they continue to deploy all of their resources in an effort to end the “unlawful demonstration” in the city’s downtown core.
They said protesters displayed aggressive behaviour toward law enforcement overnight, “refusing to follow directions, overwhelming officers, and otherwise subverting enforcement efforts.”
Leader of the People’s Party of Canada, who joined the protest in Montreal, announced that he will be hosting a pancake breakfast in Ottawa on Sunday morning in support of the truckers.
Farm tractors and other vehicles started blocking the lanes of an intersection in the City of Cornwall on Saturday morning. The group had slowed down access to the city coming out of the Canada-U.S. port of entry earlier the same day. They were led by some of the same organizers of a convoy from Alexandria (roughly a 40-minute drive from Cornwall) to Ottawa last weekend.
In Fredericton, New Brunswick, police say an ongoing protest against COVID mandates remains peaceful.
“We are pleased to report that the overnight hours were uneventful. There were no criminal offenses,” they said in a Twitter post on Saturday.
They said organizers were being respectful and agreed to remain inside a designated safe zone.
Some streets were closed to traffic and barricades were adjusted to provide additional space.
Windsor police say there have been no arrests made at this time. They said enforcement continues and anyone who is “located within the demonstration area are subject to arrest,” advising everyone to leave the area. Meanwhile, there are armoured vehicles by Ambassador Bridge, and snipers were reportedly on the roof of a nearby building.
In Paris, France, motorists and protesters started flocking to the city on Friday as police upped their presence, bringing in heavy-lift equipment and armoured vehicles.
On Saturday, police cleared demonstrators at the Champs-Elysees who evaded authorities. A video from a French journalist shows police using tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Tow trucks were also being used to remove vehicles in the French capital. At least 14 people were detained.
In the United States, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned authorities earlier this week that protests planned by truckers could cause disruptions in Los Angeles, where the Super Bowl is set to take place on Sunday.
“The convoy will potentially begin in California early as mid-February, potentially impacting the Super Bowl scheduled for 13 February and the State of the Union address scheduled for 1 March,” according to a Homeland Security memo obtained by The Hill.
Canadian truckers may join the American convoy, which is expected to end in Washington.
In Ottawa, more protesters arrived at Parliament Hill. Police are expecting an influx of people to join the protest over the weekend, as temperatures are set to reach -10C during the day on Saturday.
In Montreal, protesters are marching as the leader of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier announced on Saturday morning that he would participate. At the end of the march, protesters will meet north of the city to congregate before driving to join the protest in Ottawa.
Some protesters are showing up in Montreal to rally against the Freedom Convoy protests.
On Saturday morning, Toronto streets around Queens Park remained empty in anticipation of more pandemic protests.
“Given the intelligence we acquired, the Service made the decision to scale up its operational response on Wednesday of this week and implemented the closure of Queen’s Park Circle from College St. to Bloor St.,” said Police Chief James Ramer on Friday at a press conference. “Since then, we have closed College St. between Bay St. and Yonge St. to vehicular traffic with the exception of public transit.”
He warned that anyone blocking access to hospitals would be “subject to strict enforcement.”
Protesters in Windsor were told by police to leave the area surrounding Ambassador Bridge and head home. Several of them started to pack up their tents, while others shouted “freedom” as they carried Canadian flags from their trucks or on foot.
In Windsor, police said in a Twitter post that they had begun enforcement at and near the Ambassador Bridge. They asked commuters to avoid the area.
With additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Bloomberg and Reuters
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The fight against Canada’s worst-ever auto theft epidemic has largely focused on ramping up inspections at shipping ports, where organized crime groups have exported the overwhelming majority of stolen vehicles.
But criminals are adapting, police say, by increasingly selling hot vehicles in Canada to unsuspecting buyers with little protection, exploiting a weakness in provincial registration systems that veteran investigators argue needs to be fixed.
“The market is so lucrative it’s easy cash,” said Det. Sgt. Greg O’Connor of Peel Regional Police, west of Toronto.
While it is impossible to know what criminals do with all stolen cars and difficult to track shifting trends, police now estimate nearly one-third of stolen vehicles are being resold in Canada, marking a significant increase from just six months ago when the vast majority of vehicles were believed to have been exported.
And often, buyers have no idea.
Derek Crocker bought a used Ford F-150 pickup truck from a dealership in Toronto in 2022. Just a few months later, his own investigation revealed the truck’s vehicle identification number — or VIN — had been replaced, mirroring the VIN of a similar truck registered in Utah.
“The whole reason you buy it from a dealership is so you don’t have to worry about dealing with that sort of thing,” he said.
In retrospect, there were small tells.
After Crocker entered what should have been the truck’s unique VIN in Ford’s app, the function to remotely start the vehicle never worked. The app also listed the vehicle as being located in the United States and indicated a different amount of fuel than his own vehicle tank was holding.
But it wasn’t until his F-150 was in an accident and required body work that the problem with the VIN was revealed. The repair shop ordered parts based on the VIN it saw on the dash. But the parts did not match.
“So I Googled the VIN number that was on my truck, and I found a truck for sale in Utah,” said Crocker.
It turns out that was the true VIN, which thieves had cloned, placing fake VIN stickers with the Utah truck’s VIN on top of the true number for the truck Crocker bought.
VINs are most prominently displayed on a vehicle’s dashboard, as well as on the ownership title. When a vehicle is stolen, the VIN is flagged across North America to prevent it being sold.
But criminals are replacing the VIN plate, often with one from a comparable vehicle that has been totalled, legally exported or one registered in another province or U.S. state. They may go through junkyards, export records or simply walk through a mall parking lot to find a VIN to clone.
In doing so, they re-VIN or “wash” the vehicle of its stolen status.
Crocker called police, who seized the vehicle and returned it to the insurance company of the original owner.
Crocker’s own insurance would not cover his loss because he’d — albeit unknowingly — purchased a stolen vehicle. After a long discussion with the dealership that sold him the stolen truck, his money was returned.
“They did nothing extra,” Crocker said. “They didn’t help me at all.”
Provincial centres that administer vehicle registration, such as ServiceOntario, do not have a system that checks if VINs already exist in other jurisdictions.
“You can have a vehicle registered in one province and the same VIN on a different vehicle registered in another and we need to stop that,” David Adams, president and CEO of Global Automakers of Canada, told a recent auto theft summit in the Greater Toronto Area.
Neither Canada nor the United States has a national vehicle registry. Multiple police agencies are urging federal and provincial governments to create one.
“The reality is this is a national issue. And that’s why a national registry that moves itself beyond any sort of provincial jurisdiction is important in all capacities,” Nick Milinovich, deputy chief of Peel Regional Police, said in an interview.
CBC News asked Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General why the province’s database can’t detect whether the same VIN is actively being used in another province or state.
“If changes to the provincial registration process are required, we won’t hesitate to make them,” it responded in a statement.
While it is impossible to know precisely how many fraudulently registered stolen vehicles are back on the road, recoveries have surged.
“The number of re-VINS is just blowing through the roof right now,” said O’Connor. “It’s costing drivers, banks, insurance companies big money. It’s a massive problem.”
It is impossible to know the full extent of the illegal economy and the proportion of vehicle exported versus those kept in the country. But police forces across southern Ontario have reported a surge in recoveries of vehicles that have had their VINs altered.
Car buyers are being advised to look at the VIN on the dashboard and the pillar between the front and back driver’s side doors to see if the numbering is bubbling, a sign there may be a sticker on top of the real VIN.
Running the VIN through a paid service like Carfax could also yield key warning signs. For example: a vehicle that records show has been declared salvage after a crash later reappearing undamaged. Or a VIN with a sales and registration history almost exclusively in one province or state suddenly being for sale in another.
If an insurance company discovers a vehicle has a fraudulent VIN, the policy is voided. When police seized Crocker’s truck, insurance would not pay to replace it. He was only able to recover his money when the dealership that sold the stolen truck paid him out.
But police and insurance investigators have begun to warn of a proliferation of re-VINed vehicles being sold exclusively through social media platforms like Instagram.
“If you’re paying cash for that vehicle [in a private sale] or you do a bank transfer,” said O’Connor, “there’s no recourse.”
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Police also allege organized crime has recruited employees at ServiceOntario, the registration centres operated on behalf of the province that offer an array of services, including issuing licences and managing the database of registered vehicles.
At the end of 2023, Toronto police charged seven ServiceOntario employees with a collective 73 charges, including fraud over $5,000, tampering with a vehicle identification number, breach of trust by a public officer and trafficking in identity information.
They allegedly provided an auto theft ring with registered addresses for specific vehicle models. Once stolen, the same employees assisted the ring in “re-VINing” the vehicles.
Fraudulent VINs may never be detected, although Peel police alone have seized more than 50 such vehicles in 2024 alone.
At other times, employees at ServiceOntario have flagged suspicious activity, such as when the same person shows up dozens of times to register different vehicles. That was allegedly the case with Milton Hylton, who was charged with 168 counts of various Criminal Code offences in March.
He was released on bail, pending trial. No charges are yet proven.
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According to the warrant used to search his home and requested by Peel Regional Police Const. Gurinder Athwal, the 24-year-old travelled to “multiple ServiceOntario locations throughout the province and fraudulently registered vehicles.” Police say more than 100 vehicles were involved, and describe stolen Dodge Rams, Dodge Durangos and BMWs among them.
CBC News was present at the moment of Hylton’s arrest in Mississauga as multiple undercover police vehicles conducting surveillance moved in.
As investigators searched and then towed his silver Mazda, they say they found documents to register even more vehicles inside.
Hylton had just a few weeks earlier been banned from entering ServiceOntario locations without an appointment, because of suspicions. He was in the company of a woman he identified as his girlfriend. His sister was also arrested days later and now faces 36 charges of uttering forged documents and trafficking of stolen goods.
In a news release, Peel police describe Hylton as using “loopholes in the ServiceOntario procedures that allow ‘authorized’ individuals to conduct third-party transactions.”
While third-party registration is intended for car dealers, provisions for it mean nearly any individual can transfer registration of a vehicle or register a vehicle in another person’s name.
This process is typical in other Canadian provinces, too.
“It’s a huge problem,” said O’Connor. “And that’s how a lot of these vehicles are getting through.”
For instance, the warrant in the Hylton case alleges he transferred vehicle ownerships to both a speciality tool shop in Etobicoke and an automotive exporter in St. Catharines. Neither business authorized the transfers, and both insist Hylton is neither an employee nor known to them.
Were the vehicles in question stolen, the new registration would have detached them from their previous owners. Anyone buying the vehicles would be none the wiser and would have no insurance or other protection if the vehicle’s stolen status was ever uncovered.
Peel police say Hylton sold dozens of vehicles over a year through social media under the Instagram handle “Royalty in the Building.”
That name is associated with Facebook and Instagram accounts where apparent car buyers offer testimonials.
“I called up Milton. I told him I got my money up, I need plates, I need a car. And he got it just like that,” a person said in a testimonial while standing in front of a Honda Civic.
“Got my new SUV, fully loaded. Tints, light, rims, inside’s clean. Everything’s legit,” another person said in a testimonial.
“You give him your cash. You’re on the road. You ain’t got to go to ServiceOntario. You don’t got to do no running around,” said another.
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CBC News spoke with several police and insurance officials from across the Greater Toronto Area about third-party registrations.
Each insisted the loophole needed to be closed to prevent illegal transfers. But none wanted to speak on the record, citing the provincial Ministry of Transportation as a good partner they did not want to publicly besmirch.
Meanwhile, the auto theft problem continues to grow.
In 2022, an unprecedented $1.2 billion worth of vehicles were stolen across the entire country. By 2023, more than $1 billion was lost in just Ontario alone, according to the Équité Association, the national organization charged with reducing insurance fraud.
“It’s one of the top three revenue generators for organized crime,” said Milinovich. “It’s high reward, low risk, and an easy crime.”
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OTTAWA –
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Just shy of half the respondents to Leger’s latest survey said they had a negative opinion of the federal budget, which was presented last Tuesday.
Only 21 per cent said they had a positive opinion, and one-third of respondents said they didn’t know or preferred not to answer.
Still, 65 per cent of those surveyed said the plan to spend $8.5 billion on housing, aimed at building 3.9 million homes by 2031, is good for the country.
Leger’s poll of 1,522 Canadians last weekend can’t be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
People in Alberta were most likely to say they had a very negative impression of the budget, with 42 per cent selecting that option compared to 25 per cent across the entire country.
More than half of the people who took the poll said they are in favour of the government’s plans to spend more on energy efficiency, national defence and student-loan forgiveness for health care and education workers.
And 56 per cent said they think the increase to the capital gains tax inclusion rate — a move that’s estimated to raise another $19.4 billion in revenue over the next four years — is a good thing.
The Liberals are billing the change as critical to their plan to improve generational fairness by taxing the ultra-rich.
It has drawn criticism, including from the Canadian Medical Association, which warned on Tuesday that it could affect the country’s ability to recruit and keep physicians.
The budget proposes to make two-thirds of capital gains — the profit made on the sale of assets — taxable, rather than half. For individuals, this would apply to profits above $250,000, but there is no lower threshold for corporations.
The medical association said many doctors will face higher taxes because they have incorporated their practices and used those companies to save for retirement.
While the Liberals are aiming changes to the capital gains tax at younger Canadians including millennials and gen-Zers, Leger’s poll found it had the support of 60 per cent of respondents over the age of 55 — the highest among any age group.
People between 18 and 35 were least likely to support the Liberal plan to spend another $73 billion on defence in the next two decades. Just 45 per cent of respondents in that age group said ramping up defence spending is good for the country, compared with 70 per cent of people over the age of 55.
Leger also asked questions about the country’s fiscal future.
Almost half the respondents, 47 per cent, said they want to see the government cut back on spending and programs to get the budget balanced as quickly as possible.
Just 16 per cent said spending more and running large deficits is the best plan for the next five years, and 14 per cent want to see the government increase taxes to bring the deficit down.
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Alberta’s health ministry says an audit has determined that more than 40 medical clinics in the province are advertising membership fees for services, nearly a year after one such plan landed a Calgary clinic in hot water.
The audit was launched last December. In July, CBC News reported that a medical clinic in Calgary’s Marda Loop district was moving to a membership system and planned to charge $4,800 a year for a two-parent family membership, covering two adults and their dependent children.
The next day, Health Canada said the arrangement at the Marda Loop Medical Clinic equated to patients purchasing “preferential access” and warned Alberta that it could face cuts to federal health transfers if the situation wasn’t handled.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange directed Alberta Health to investigate, and the clinic halted its plan for membership fees shortly after.
In December, LaGrange told CBC News that “appropriate action” would be taken if audits determined that violations were found, adding the province would do whatever it took to ensure clinics were in compliance.
The province promised the audits early in the new year. Now, the health ministry says it has conducted interviews to gather information on operations and business models of the clinics, adding this work is ongoing.
“Over 40 clinics in the province [advertise] a membership meant to pay for a defined set of uninsured services, while also providing insured services covered under the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan at no cost to Albertans,” wrote spokesperson Andrea Smith in a statement.
“Once this review is completed, its findings will be used to inform next steps. Alberta’s government will also determine if additional audits of more membership clinics is required.”
In July, Health Canada said executive and primary health clinics charging patients enrolment and annual membership fees exist in a number of provinces. Generally, investigations have indicated that clinics provide members with an variety of uninsured services, such as life coaching and nutritional services.
“However, in some cases … these fees are also a prerequisite to accessing insured services at the clinic (i.e., medically necessary physician services). Mandatory fees to access or receive preferential access to insured services are contrary to the Canada Health Act,” the government department wrote in a statement.
A spokesperson for LaGrange told CBC News in July the ministry wasn’t aware of any other clinics offering services for membership fees that didn’t align with legislation.
What comes next for those 40 clinics is a murky grey area, said Fiona Clement, a professor at the University of Calgary in the department of community health sciences. Much of it has to do with the exact language being used when services are outlined as parts of packages.
“We’re on the razor’s edge of exact wording there that runs them afoul. Really, I think it will come down to what the government is willing to fight with these clinics about,” she said.
CBC News asked the provincial government for a list of the clinics identified, but did not receive it by publication time. A spokesperson with the province said if any clinics are found to be non-compliant with legislation, appropriate action would be taken.
Clement said the big issue that got the Marda Loop Medical Clinic in hot water was the concept of guaranteed access.
“That’s the problem that Marda Loop got into, because there you are charging access to medical care, which is the part that contravenes the Canada Health Act,” Clement said.
At the time the Marda Loop clinic fell under scrutiny, it was clear there were other such clinics providing membership programs, in Calgary and Canada.
In 2022, researchers from Dalhousie University and Simon Fraser University released a paper tracking the number of clinics taking private payment across the country. Between November 2019 and June 2020, the period of the analysis, there were 14 private clinics in Alberta with a range of membership fees and private payment.
“So, 40 is a larger number than I was expecting. And I think it speaks to growth in this area, the number of clinics that are charging fees for different parts of care,” Clement said.
“I think it underscores the lack of stability, and the need to really think about how we’re funding primary care, because more and more clinics are turning to this private charge as a revenue source to keep the doors open.”
Provinces that allow private health-care providers to charge patients for medically necessary services have dollars clawed back by the federal government under the Canada Health Act.
According to Health Canada, Alberta was subject to a $20,450,175 deduction to its Canada Health Transfer payment in March 2024 under the diagnostic services policy. That’s up from $13,781,152 last year.
But the province received $20,538,796 in partial reimbursements tied to its March 2023 and 2024 deductions, which represents actions that Alberta Health has taken to limit patient pay for publicly funded goods or services, according to Clement.
“I guess we’re making some progress. But it’s still a big number, which says there’s still a lot of patient billing going on,” she said.
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