Experts are calling for an overhaul of the regulatory bodies that oversee Canada’s health professionals, as provincial health ministries and Colleges shirk responsibility for doctors accused of spreading unverified medical information about COVID-19 vaccines.
A Global News investigation this week revealed a web of doctors, mostly based in B.C. and Ontario, have been sharing unproven medical information about vaccine side effects in an attempt to persuade the public not to get vaccinated, while others have been accused of issuing false vaccine exemptions or prescribing unverified treatments.
But experts say such comments don’t go far enough in addressing the problem.
“This is meaningless,” Wayne Petrozzi, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics at Ryerson University, says.
“There’s a limit to how much they have to listen to you. So assuring the public you’re going to talk to them, that you’re going to raise your voice with them, is no assurance at all,” Petrozzi says.
40 physicians under investigation
Elliott’s comments came as B.C. and Ontario’s health ministries and Colleges appear to be shifting the blame onto each other to stem the flow of disinformation.
Elliott said on Wednesday she would be sending a letter to the CPSO “urging them to do everything that is possible to put an end to this behaviour.”
“They should consider all options in doing so, including reviewing the licences of physicians found to be spreading misinformation,” Elliott says.
But the CPSO says they are already doing that.
Currently, more than 40 physicians are being investigated in regards to their conduct relating to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, a CPSO spokesperson said. Seven have suspensions or restrictions placed on their medical licences.
Elliott and the Ministry of Health have so far refused to answer all questions from Global News on provincial doctors sharing unverified medical information and issuing vaccine exemptions. Questions around what more the CPSO could be doing to address this have also gone unanswered.
CPSBC refuses to release investigation numbers
In B.C., the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia (CPSBC) continues to refuse to release the number of COVID-related complaints it has received.
None of the B.C. doctors Global News highlighted for sharing unverified medical information or issuing false vaccine exemptions have restrictions or suspensions placed on their licences.
Under BC’s Health Protection Act, the CPSBC has the power to suspend a physician’s licence, or impose limits or conditions on it, before a hearing, if it is necessary to “protect the public.”
The CPSBC did not respond to questions about why it has declined to do so.
In August 2020, an all-party steering committee made its final report on how to overhaul the way B.C.’s health-care workers are regulated — which provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix said would “bring health professional regulation into the 21st Century.”
The changes would reduce the province’s 20 regulatory Colleges to six, changing the governance of college boards to allow for equal public and professional membership and creating a new oversight body tasked with setting standards across Colleges and acting as a disciplinary authority.
When asked about the need for tighter laws in regards to disinformation, the CPSBC said it had “made recommendations to the tri-party steering committee,” including amendments to the Health Professions Act, but “only the government can update legislation.”
2:41 Ontario family physician says more must be done to hold doctors with anti-vaccine views accountable
Ontario family physician says more must be done to hold doctors with anti-vaccine views accountable
The B.C. Ministry of Health declined to answer specific questions.
When asked if it needed outside help to stem the flow of disinformation and to speed the investigation process up, which can take years, the spokesperson simply said “no.”
“Some people think the College isn’t doing enough and an equal number think the College is overstepping,” the spokesperson said.
‘The system may not be working’
In Ontario, the Regulated Health Professions Act was amended in 2017 to allow the Health Minister greater power in regulating College committees and panels and expanding the purposes for which the Minister can require the CPSO to collect information from members.
But experts say these amendments should go further.
Dr. Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist at the University of Toronto, said he was “shocked” at the number of doctors being investigated for COVID-related issues in the province.
“This is evidence that the system may not be working,” Bowman said.
“When we look at the effect in a prolonged public health crisis they’re very severe.”
3:18 Doug Ford satisfied with CPSO process restricting Ontario doctors
Doug Ford satisfied with CPSO process restricting Ontario doctors – Oct 18, 2021
Bowman said the argument in favour of freedom of speech “is not relevant” in this context, as it’s “medical information that moves against the principles of medicine.”
“There’s a difference between freedom of speech as a citizen and freedom of speech as a profession. Physicians have absolutely a highly elevated ethical responsibility to the community, and the very nature of medicine itself is the platform is evidence-based science and research.”
Trudo Lemmens, Scholl chair of health law and policy at the University of Toronto, said Colleges are currently doing more to sanction members for misinformation than they have done in the past, but they “need to be more proactive.”
He says, in the past, a lack of action has sometimes had drastic consequences.
“Canadian physicians have been involved in misrepresentation of findings and in contributing to the overprescription of drugs, including, for example, in the opioid context, which is… the contributing factor to the opioid crisis that we currently have.”
However, Lemmens says the Colleges must ensure they “walk a fine line” so they are not “stifling a normal debate.”
“You want to be careful not to impose on the Colleges an excessive level of policing that would lead them to interfere with normal debate within the medical community about the safety and efficacy of medications or vaccines,” he says.
‘We shouldn’t be comfortable being the chickens’
Petrozzi said Elliott’s comments were “meaningless” and more concrete action needs to be taken.
“[We need] the government of Ontario to put in place an accountability framework that’s meaningful, substantial and that’s transparent for the various self-regulating professions in this province,” he says.
Self-regulated professions, such as in health care, need “much more in the way of transparency than we currently get” as self-regulatory bodies grapple with protecting both the public interest and its own, Petrozzi says.
He added an overhaul was necessary to allow government representatives to investigate the professions, increase openness and transparency in its activities and decision making and put stricter rules in place for the timeliness of investigations.
“What we have in place now across …self-regulating professions is a system in which the good foxes are put in charge to keep an eye on all the other foxes — and to act if they come across a bad fox that wants to hurt the chickens. [It is] absent of a robust system of transparency and robust processes of outside evaluation.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning selected Victor Hedman as the team captain on Wednesday as training camp opened, making the big defenseman the successor to Steven Stamkos.
Hedman, who is going into his 16th season with Tampa Bay, was considered the obvious choice to get the “C” after the Lightning did not re-sign Stamkos and their longtime captain left to join Nashville.
“Victor is a cornerstone player that is extremely well respected by his teammates, coaches and peers across the NHL,” general manager Julien BriseBois said. “Over the past 15 seasons, he has been a world-class representative for our organization both on and off the ice. Victor embodies what it means to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is more than ready for this exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to watching him flourish in his new role as we continue to work towards our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”
The 33-year-old from Sweden was a key contributor in the Lightning hoisting the Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21, including playoff MVP honors on the first of those championship runs. Hedman also took home the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman in 2018 and finished in the top three in voting five other seasons.
Ryan McDonagh, who was reacquired early in the offseason in a trade with the Predators, and MVP finalist Nikita Kucherov will serve as alternate captains with the Lightning moving on to the post-Stamkos era.
TORONTO – While Toronto FC is looking to improve its position on the pitch, general manager Jason Hernandez is trying to do the same off it.
That has been easier said than done this season.
Sending winger Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty to CF Montreal for up to $1.3 million (all dollar figures in U.S. funds) in general allocation money before the secondary transfer window closed in early August helped set the stage for future moves.
But there have been plenty of obstacles, which Hernandez has been working to clear.
“We feel a lot more confident going into this upcoming off-season that we did the one prior,” said Hernandez. “There’s a level of what I would say booby-traps that were uncovered when I first got the (GM) role at the end of last summer.”
The club is paying off departed forwards Adam Diomande and Ayo Akinola as well as a $500,000 payment due in 2024 to Belgium’s Anderlecht for Jamaican international defender Kemar Lawrence. That payment was part of the transfer fee for Lawrence, who joined TFC from Anderlecht in May 2021 and was traded to Minnesota United in March 2022.
Diomande was waived while Akinola’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
“That comes to an end in ’25, which is nice,” said Hernandez. “We had to suffer from a salary cap perspective this season. But those things coming off, the Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty money coming in, we’re going to be in a position to make some good additions, which is positive.”
While MLS clubs are allowed one contract buyout per year, Toronto had already used its on former captain Michel Bradley, who retired after last season. Bradley had previously restructured his contract, deferring money.
TFC’s only other move during the summer transfer window was the signing of free-agent defender Henry Wingo. Hernandez said the club knew going into the window that it was likely limited to the one acquisition “unless other business happened”
“We knew we had this bucket of money and we knew we were going to go get Henry,” said Hernandez.
While the sale of the highly touted Marshall-Rutty opened up other possibilities, it came on the eve of the transfer window closing. And the team did not like what it saw in the free-agent market.
“A lot of the opportunities we were presented in the free agency space felt more like a short-term, Band-Aid decision versus what actually the club probably needs.”
Hernandez was not willing to take in players who came with a “club-friendly” salary cap charge in 2024 and a much bigger number in 2025.
Instead, Toronto promoted forward Charlie Sharp and wingback Nate Edwards to the first team from TFC 2 ahead of last Friday’s roster freeze.
MLS teams are operating on a salary budget of $5.47 million this season, which covers up to 20 players on the senior roster (clubs can elect to spread that number across 18 players). But the league has several mechanisms that allow those funds to go further, including using allocation money (both general and targeted) to buy down salaries.
Designated players only count $683,750 — the maximum salary charge — against the cap no matter their actual pay. Toronto’s Lorenzo Insigne is actually earning $15.4 million with fellow Italian Federico Bernardeschi collecting $6.295 million and Canadian Richie Laryea $1.208 million.
Hernandez says Laryea’s contract can — and “very likely” will — be restructured so as to remove the designated player status.
There are benefits in going with just two designated players rather than three.
Teams that elect to go with two DPs can sign up to four players as part of the league’s “U22 Initiative.” The pluses of that structure include a reduced salary cap charge for the young players and up to an extra $2 million in general allocation money.
Hernandez says the club is currently pondering whether that is the way to go.
Captain Jonathan Osorio who is earning $836,370 this season, restructured his deal to allow the team to sign Laryea as a DP. In doing so, Osorio had his option year guaranteed so his contact runs through 2026.
Hernandez and coach John Herdman will have decisions to make come the end of the year.
The contracts of goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh ($94,200), defenders Kevin Long ($277,500), Shane O’Neill ($413,000) and Kobe Franklin ($100,520), midfielder Alonso Coello ($94,050) and Brandon Servania ($602,710), and forward Prince Owusu ($807,500) — all on the club’s senior roster — expire at the end of 2024 with club options to follow.
While there is more work to do, Hernandez believes TFC is on the right road.
Toronto, which finished last in the league at 4-20-10 in 2023, went into Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus in a playoff position at eighth in the East at 11-15-3.
“By every metric, we are miles ahead of where we were at this point last year,” said Hernandez.
“That’s a low bar, so that’s not saying much,” he added.
But he believes TFC is “quite competitive” when it has all its players at its disposal.
“To get results in this final stretch, we’re going to need our prominent players to really show up and have big performances, and be supported by the rest of the cast.”
After Columbus, TFC plays at Colorado and Chicago and hosts the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami. The club also travels to Vancouver for the Canadian Championship final.
—
Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024
Mackenzie Hughes might just be what the International team needs as this year’s Presidents Cup.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., is one of three Canadians on the squad competing in the match-play event at Royal Montreal Golf Club next week.
His putting skills, cool demeanour under pressure, pre-existing connections with teammates and clubhouse leadership could help the team — made up of non-American players outside Europe — end a nine-tournament losing skid to the United States at the biennial event.
“I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a few years now,” said Hughes on joining fellow Canadians Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners as captain’s picks on the 12-player International team. “I pretty much knew that when it was announced the tournament would be in Canada and that Mike Weir was going to be the captain, you pretty much knew where that was going to go.
“To get that call from (Weir) is really special because he’s the guy that I looked up to, we all looked up to, as Canadian golfers.”
Pendrith and Conners are returning to the team after a disappointing 17 1/2 to 12 1/2 loss to the United States at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C. in 2022.
Hughes was ranked 14th on the International team standings in 2022 and could have easily been included on that squad after Australia’s Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann were ruled ineligible after jumping ship to the rival LIV Golf circuit.
However, captain Trevor Immelman of South Africa instead chose the lower ranked Christiaan Bezuidenhout (16th) of South Africa, Pendrith (18th), South Korea’s Kim Si-woo (20th) and Australia’s Cameron Davis (25th).
“I certainly wanted to be on that team but also I understood the picks,” said Hughes, who lives in Charlotte and plays at Quail Hollow regularly. “I think that like a lot of guys that don’t get picked you more so look back on your own play and I wish I had made that selection easier for them.
“I didn’t do myself any favours in the six weeks leading up to it and that’s a hard pill to swallow.”
It may have been a costly oversight on Immelman’s part, as finishing holes was an issue for the International team in 2022 and Hughes is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. This season he’s third in shots gained around the green and fifth in shots gained from putting.
“It doesn’t mean that just because I was there it would have turned the tide, but I’d like to think maybe I could have helped,” said Hughes. “That’s why you play the matches. You have to get out there and do it.”
This year Hughes made it easier for Weir, the Canadian golf legend from Brights Grove, Ont., to choose him. Hughes is 51st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings and has made the cut seven tournaments in a row, including a tie for fourth at last week’s Procore Championship.
“Mac played very solidly all year. Really like his short game, an all-around short game,” said Weir on Sept. 3 after announcing his captain’s picks. “He’s one of the elite and best short game guys on the PGA Tour
“I also love Mac’s grit. So that was the reason I picked him.”
Hughes’s intangible qualities go beyond grit.
He, Pendrith and Conners will arrive at Royal Montreal as a unit within the International squad, having become close friends while playing on Kent State University’s men’s golf team before turning pro. They’re also part of a group of Canadians, including Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., that regularly practice together before PGA Tour events.
“To have those guys with me is really icing on the cake, it’s very special,” said Hughes. “Opportunities like this don’t come around very often: to play this kind of team competition, which is already hard to do, but to play with some of your best friends, it almost seems scripted.”
An 11-year professional, Hughes has also been a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council the past two years and has been an outspoken advocate for making professional golf more accessible to fans.
Although Weir relied heavily on analytics to make his captain’s selections, Hughes’s character came up again and again when asked why he was named to the team.
“I just have a gut feeling with Mac that he has what it takes in these big moments,” said Weir. “They’re big pressure moments, and I have a feeling he’s going to do great in those moments.”
DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., continues his chase for a spot in the Europe-based DP World Tour’s playoffs. The top 50 players on the Race to Dubai standings make the DP World Tour Championship and Cockerill moved eight spots up to 39th in the rankings after tying for ninth at last week’s Irish Open. He’ll be back at it on Thursday at the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.
KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is ranked 38th on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s points list. He leads the Canadian contingent into this week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship. He’ll be joined at Ohio State University Golf Club — Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio by Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (53rd), Etienne Papineau (65th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (99th) of Mississauga, Ont.
CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian at this week’s Pure Insurance Championship. He’s No. 2 on the senior circuit’s points list. The event will start Friday and be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Monterey, Calif.
LPGA TOUR — There are four Canadians in this week’s Kroger City Championship. Savannah Grewal (97th in the Race to CME Globe Rankings) of Mississauga, Ont., Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (115th), and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (142nd) of Sherbrooke, Que., will all tee it up at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
EPSON TOUR — Vancouver’s Leah John is the low Canadian heading into the Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout. She’s 54th in the second-tier tour’s points list. She’ll be joined by Maddie Szeryk (118th) of London, Ont., and Brigitte Thibault (119th) of Rosemere, Que., at Mystic Creek Golf Club in El Dorado, Ark.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.
