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Family Doctors/Medical Professionals: When they are Gone, their Gone.

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Have you or someone you know been having difficulty finding a family doctor? Have you applied for admittance to a doctor’s practice, or called asking to become a patient only to be refused? Well friend you are not alone in this endeavour. About 3% of family doctors across the province of Ontario, some 385, stopped practicing between March and September 2020. (Unity Health Toronto). That accounts for an estimated 170,000 patients losing access to primary care and was higher than the 1.6% of family doctors who stopped working during a comparable period between 2010 and 2019.

The pandemic has made a bad situation even worst in primary care. Ontarians and Canadians need to address this issue by supporting those who wish to go into family medicine and primary care. This is a near-crisis situation that the Province and Federal Governments seem to be neglecting. As of March 2020, 1.8 million Ontarians did not have a family doctor, and a further 1.7 million Ontarians have a family doctor older than 65 years old. Yes, that is retirement age.

When Ontario locked down the province in 2020, they directed doctors to not see patients unless absolutely necessary. This pushed visits, either in person or virtually down by more than 30%. Doctors who charge the province by a fee-for-service modal lost most of their income while keeping their offices open for the few who visited. Patients in need visited the Emergency offices of hospitals, filling these venues. Then hospitals redirected the patients to private or walk-in clinics that were limited in how many patients they can help. Family Doctors were placed in the middle of a healthcare storm, with patients in need on one side, and provincial governments on the other. In those Doctors that had smaller practices, fewer than 500 patients left the job at a higher rate.

Between 2010-2019 Ontario had 12.247 active Family Doctors, while from 2019 to September 2020 only 11,862. Regionally, Northwestern Ontario, the Niagara Region and Bruce Penninsula Region, Toronto, and Ottawa lost the most doctors. This situation hit hardest in rural communities, where the number of doctors was smaller, to begin with, and the doctor’s influence upon the community was greater. The trend toward retirement found within the medical field in general places our health system into a present and future crisis.

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While the provinces are attempting to move patients without crisis needs out of their hospitals, opening up their surgical and emergency wards, the doctors in need continue to place their efforts in peril. Those patients in need continue to go to ERs, often to find rural and smaller community ER’s periodically closed for a few days or a week. The province needs to deal with the increasing costs to maintain its health systems. Medical professionals leave the health system only to return better paid through temp firms.

Is the province trying to bring in some form of privatization within our health system? TwoTiered Medicine is already to hear, with doctor’s offices charging for things once taken care of by the province. Universal Healthcare seems to not work these days, especially when the province ties medical professionals’ hands and denies them the funds they need. Preventive medicine, the most cost-effective healthcare has gone out the window, replaced by triage and reactive medicine.

what can the government do?

1. Institute Homecare as the basis for the health system. If the problem can be done at home, medical professionals visit domestically.
2. Emergency Departments are only for Emergencies.
3. Allow new Canadians who are medically trained to enter the system as quickly as possible. End the Medical Associations’ stranglehold upon who works in the province and where.
4. Make strict annual medical checkups legally essential. Preventive medicine must become legally binding to all citizens.
5. Medical Professionals must be the highest paid civil servants.
6. The medical system must be independent of provincial management, with active and powerful auditors present to make sure the system is operating cost-effectively and properly.
7. Those studying to become Medical professionals should receive a full allowance for their studies. Only if they graduate into the system all their education should be paid for by the province.
8. Complete family services should be offered to medical professionals, such as child care, family emergency crisis management, etc…

New doctors, who are beholding to the province, should begin their residency in rural areas of the province, generating experience, people skills, and patience in service. Nursing should be treated in the same manner. The public must give these professionals what they want and need, and demand of them provincials service for a five-year period, perhaps longer. The staffing shortage within the most important department our government has must not happen again. Taxes will go up, but what are you worried about when your loved one is ill? Money or their welfare?

Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
skaszab@yahoo.ca

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

an SPVM car near a taped-off crime scene
Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

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The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured.

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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Pakistan airline crew sought asylum in Canada: spokesperson – CTV News

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Typically, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight attendants who arrive in Toronto stay at a hotel overnight, meet back up with their crew the next day and then fly to their next destination.

But increasingly often, PIA attendants aren’t showing up, the airline says. According to PIA, at least eight flight attendants disappeared over the last year and a half.

They have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.

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Increased occurrences

Abdullah Hafeez Khan said at least eight flight attendants “have gone missing” after flying to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. He said these incidents have been happening over the last 10 years, but are now occurring more frequently.

“Since probably October of 2022, the number of the people that have opted asylum has increased tremendously,” Khan said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca from Karachi, Pakistan, where the airline is based.

“None of those crew members that disappeared in the last one-and-a-half years have come back. So they were granted asylum for one way or the other, and that probably has encouraged others to do so.”

The missing employees were fired immediately and lost their company benefits, Khan said.

Why did they flee?

Khan said he could only speculate as to why the flight attendants would flee.

The Canadian government underscored the volatile situation in Pakistan, warning in a travel advisory of a “high threat of terrorism,” along with threats of civil unrest, sectarian violence and kidnapping.

“The security situation is fragile and unpredictable,” the Canadian travel advisory reads. “Incidents are typically attributed to extremism, ethnic divisions, sectarian strife, regional political disputes and the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.”

It added that many deaths and injuries have occurred from bombings, shootings and other terrorist attacks at a wide range of targets.

Since Khan isn’t in contact with any of the missing employees, he says, he assumes they decided to seek asylum in Canada for economic and social reasons.

“So I naturally assumed that all of them have been given asylum because I don’t think they would be living there illegally,” he said, adding they may already have family connections in Canada who can support them.

In this June 8, 2013, photo, a Pakistan International Airlines plane moments before take off from the Benazir Bhutto airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

‘PR crisis’

Khan called the flight attendants’ disappearances a “PR crisis” for PIA that is “bad” for business amid a crew shortage.

The airline is in talks with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Pakistani law enforcement agencies to potentially create a “legal safeguard” to curtail flight crew from seeking asylum, he said.

When asked about the PIA flight attendants’ disappearances, Erin Kerbel, spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the department couldn’t comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.

In response to questions about PIA’s claim that discussions are underway about the issue, a spokesperson for the CBSA said it could not confirm any information.

“The Canada Border Services Agency does not provide comment or details on specific individuals, including any discussions that would take place with airline companies, as an individual’s border and immigration information is considered private and protected by the Privacy Act,” Maria Ladouceur said in an email to CTVNews.ca.

Since the crew members’ disappearances, Khan said, the airline has “done numerous things to curtail that.”

For instance, the airline is only staffing Toronto-bound flights with crew members who have “established linkages” in Pakistan, such as children, spouses or parents, as well as those who have worked in the organization for more than 15 years.

The airline avoids sending to Toronto those who are single or don’t have established family ties in Pakistan, he said.

Khan said he and the airline are no longer in contact with the flight attendants because, they discovered, they usually change their phone numbers soon after disappearing in Toronto.

Who disappeared?

The PIA flight attendants who vanished in Canada are seasoned pros in their late 30s or 40s, some of whom have worked for the airline for as long as two decades, Khan said.

“There was never any sign from them that they would seek something like that,” he said. “So that is something that is bothering us in the matter because working with people who have been working with you for a long time and then something happens like this is pretty unexpected.”

In one of the latest cases in February, the crew members were waiting to take the bus back to the airport from the hotel in Toronto and one of the flight attendants didn’t show up, Khan said.

The airline was unable to reach the flight attendant on her cellphone or hotel landline so, Khan says, they asked hotel management to check if she was OK.

“When the crew went there, she left her uniform there with a note saying, ‘Thank you PIA,'” Khan said, which he interpreted as a genuine sentiment of gratitude for her more than 15 years of service with PIA rather than a taunt.

Khan said the crew members who disappeared were “family values people” who had good careers in Pakistan.

Asylum policies

Individuals can make a refugee claim in Canada at a port of entry upon arrival or online if they are already in Canada, according to the Canadian government’s website.

Canadian immigration or border officials will determine if the person is eligible for a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. All claimants must undergo health and security screenings, the government says.

If eligible to make a claim in Canada, refugee claimants can access social assistance, education, health services, emergency housing and legal aid pending a decision on their claim. Most can apply for a work permit after a medical examination.

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Alberta's population surges by record-setting 202,000 people: Here's where they all came from – CBC.ca

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Alberta smashed population-growth records in the past year, mainly due to people moving to the province from across Canada and around the world.

The province’s population surged to just over 4.8 million as of Jan. 1, according to new estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

That’s an increase of 202,324 residents compared with a year earlier, which marks — by far — the largest annual increase on record.

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Alberta also broke a national record in 2023 for interprovincial migration, with a net gain of 55,107 people.

“This was the largest gain in interprovincial migration nationally since comparable data became available in 1972,” Statistics Canada said in a release.


Most of the interprovincial migrants came from Ontario and British Columbia.

Statistics Canada estimates that 38,236 Ontarians moved to Alberta last year, versus 14,860 Albertans who moved to Ontario, for a net gain of 23,376 people.

Similarly, an estimated 37,650 British Columbians moved to Alberta, compared to 22,400 Albertans who moved to B.C., for a net gain of 15,250.


All told, interprovincial migration accounted for 27 per cent of Alberta’s population growth over the past year.

That put it just ahead of permanent immigration, which accounted for 26 per cent, and well ahead of natural population increase (more births than deaths), which accounted for eight per cent.

The largest component, however, was temporary international migration.

Non-permanent residents from other countries accounted for 39 per cent of the province’s population growth in the past year, reflecting a national trend.


Canada’s population reached 40,769,890 on Jan. 1, according to Statistics Canada estimates, which is up 3.2 per cent from a year ago.

“Most of Canada’s 3.2-per-cent population growth rate stemmed from temporary immigration in 2023,” Statistics Canada noted.

“Without temporary immigration, that is, relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase (births minus deaths), Canada’s population growth would have been almost three times less (1.2 per cent).”

Alberta’s population, meanwhile, grew by 4.4 per cent year-over-year.

Alberta now represents 11.8 per cent of the country’s population, its largest proportion on record. 

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