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‘Real disconnect’: Provinces and feds point fingers as Canada’s ER crisis continues – Global News
Emergency physician Dr. Raghu Venugopal doesn’t mince words when describing the realities his patients have been facing in the emergency departments in which he works in Toronto.
“It’s really a dire situation,” he said after a recent shift in the ER.
Wait times are “exceedingly long” for even the most urgent care, with some patients waiting 100 to 125 hours for treatment, he says.
“My trauma victim may stay on a stretcher for four days straight. My elderly senior citizens will easily be on a stretcher for three days, having their entire admission on a stretcher in the ER.”
Venugopal is one of many ER doctors and other front-line health-care workers who have been raising the alarm about a “national crisis” in Canada’s health-care system.
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For months, these doctors and nurses have used any platform available to them urgently call attention to the situation in ERs across Canada that they say has become unsustainable due to an unprecedented shortage of staff. It is a phenomenon happening in tandem with a recent surge in demand for health services. COVID-19 is partially to blame for this spike, but so too is a national shortage of family doctors that has resulted in many patients without preventative care becoming sicker and in need of more intensive health interventions.
Canadians can be forgiven if they are confused about whether the situation is indeed a crisis, given the lack of urgent response from governments and mixed messaging from some politicians, Venugopal says.
For example, last month, after more than 20 emergency departments across Ontario had to temporarily close and divert patients due to insufficient staff, Health Minister Sylvia Jones downplayed the situation, saying that to call it a crisis is “completely inappropriate.”
“What we’re observing is a real disconnect on the facts,” Venugopal said.
The situation in emergency rooms across this country is “demoralizing,” he says, and many nurses and doctors are speaking out because they see a “a gap in leadership” that is not doing enough to remedy the situation, he said.
“They really lack credibility and they really seem out of touch with the experience of the day-to-day patients and day-to-day nurses and doctors.”
What are governments doing to address crisis?
Despite Jones’ dismissal of the term, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has repeatedly called the hemorrhaging of hospital and health-care staff a “national crisis.” And while provincial politicians have promised action, all 13 of Canada’s premiers also argue more federal funding is what’s needed.
They presented a unified plea to the federal government to increase the share of health care costs through the Canada Health Transfer from 22 to 35 per cent during a first-ministers summit in July.
They say provinces are paying the lion’s share of health costs, despite health-care funding being a shared responsibility between provincial and federal governments, and an influx of cash is needed from Ottawa to “support the reallocation of services,” B.C. Premier John Horgan said at the summit in July.
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly responded to these demands saying he wants to see “tangible results” from the provinces with the $45.2 billion they will already receive this year for health care.
In the past, “huge investments” by provincial and federal governments haven’t always delivered necessary improvements, Trudeau told reporters in July.
But he has remained vague about exactly what results Ottawa wants to see achieved, saying only broadly that Canadians should have better access to family doctors, mental health treatment and that medical backlogs should be reduced.
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos declined multiple requests for an interview with Global News, but in a brief response to two questions outside the House of Commons last week, he said he wants to respect the jurisdiction provinces and territories have over health care delivery in Canada, while also acknowledging that Ottawa shares the “responsibility of serving the same Canadians with the same (taxpayers) dollars.”
“I’m there to support them,” he said.
“I know their job is difficult and that the health-care crisis is there because it is a health-care workers crisis – which has been and keeps being exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis – and for which we need to do dramatic investments.”
But when asked why Ottawa has not yet delivered on its election promise last year of $3.2 billion for provinces and territories to hire 7,500 new family doctors and nurses – money that was supposed to begin rolling out this year – Duclos walked away without responding.
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix says provincial governments cannot be left to bear the financial brunt of what has become a more costly system to manage in recent years. These costs are only projected to rise with Canada’s aging population, he said.
“The federal government has said they expect higher standards in various areas, including long-term care and others, so they’ve got to come up to the table. And unfortunately, in the last little while, they simply haven’t done it.”
Instead of increasing transfers, Ottawa has instead preferred to provide targeted, one-time payments in specific areas, Dix says, such as increasing surgeries or reducing backlogs.
He argues these are “short-term” fixes that don’t allow for longer-term planning, especially in staffing.
“If you’re going to build a surgical team in a hospital, one-year funding doesn’t cut it, two-year funding doesn’t cut it,” he said. “It’s not that we say no to it when it’s offered. Of course not … But they’ve got to step up.”
A shared responsibility
So, who’s job is it to fix the problems plaguing Canada’s overburdened health system?
It’s both the federal and provincial government’s responsibility, says B.C.-based health policy analyst Andrew Longhurst.
While provinces and territories are tasked with overseeing health-care delivery – responsibilities that are often split with municipalities and regional health authorities – Ottawa also has a vital role to play in “setting and administering national principles for the system under the Canada Health Act,” in addition to providing financial support, according to Health Canada’s website.
But even as the federal government came to the provinces’ aid over the last two years with billions of additional dollars toward the public health response to COVID-19, health care access has declined and premiers have continued to ask for more money, Longhurst said.
“I think in all of this and the federal government is very right to be concerned about continuing to write cheques to the provinces without certainty and accountability of how those dollars are being spent.”
But, he adds, Ottawa should also bear some responsibility in showing leadership and ensuring that accountability is built into funding models, he said.
“This back and forth of playing blame-shifting where the premiers are telling the feds: ‘We just need more money.’ And funding is a big part of that, no question, but a lot of the policy changes aren’t about money,” Longhurst said.
“They’re about how we organize the delivery of health-care services, how we pay physicians … how do we reform?”
A lack of timely changes in the health system to respond to shifting health-care needs across the country “absolutely falls to the provinces who have not been focusing on the issue,” he added.
But some political leaders are indeed ready to embrace the changes needed to help stabilize health-care services, including the mayor of Perth, Ont., John Fenik.
His town’s hospital emergency department was forced to close for almost a month in July due to critical staffing shortages. This had a significant impact not only on his residents, but also those of several surrounding townships that rely on Perth’s ER, he said.
That’s why he says he’s willing to do whatever it takes to come up with urgent and implementable solutions that will keep health services open and available to patients.
But this can’t happen until all government leaders take responsibility and stop pointing fingers over whose job it is to fix the problems, Fenik said.
“It’s time for leaders in the provincial and federal positions, (for) Prime Minister Trudeau to not say, ‘It’s your responsibility, Doug Ford,’ or Doug saying, ‘We need more funds.’ It is our issue. We have to collectively sit around the table and solve it,” he said.
“This back and forth does nothing for one of my citizens that needs to get to the ER when the doors are shut. So, the buck stops here with me.”
What are provinces doing?
Even as they call for more federal funds, most provinces have been trying to address the challenges in their health systems in their own individual ways.
For example, Saskatchewan recently announced new investments to bolster health staffing, including a new agency dedicated to recruiting and retaining nurses and doctors, as well as money to increase the number of family medicine residency training seats and nurse training seats.
Manitoba’s budget this year had money for a special task force to address surgical and diagnostic backlogs and is investing in new education and recruitment programs for nurses.
Last month, Ontario announced it would increase the number of publicly-covered surgeries performed at private clinics, as well as waive exam and registration fees for internationally trained nurses and will send patients waiting for a long-term care bed to a home not of their choosing.
Prince Edward Island has been trying to adopt more team-based approaches to primary care called “medical homes and neighbourhoods” to reduce a significant number of patients without family doctors.
And Alberta has been investing significant funds and energy into reducing surgical backlogs.
Ronan Segrave, Alberta’s surgical recovery lead, says a task force dedicated to this work has made some welcome progress in streamlining referrals and intake of patients – embracing new technologies to do so – and ensuring operating rooms are operating as effectively as possible.
Major changes in any health system can be “disruptive,” he says, but he believes patients, health-care workers and government alike know that even disruptive change is necessary to make improvements, Segrave said.
“We’re starting to embed changes that are more transformational in nature, moving forward to a world where people waiting outside of recommended wait time simply doesn’t happen in the future,” he said.
“We’re changing processes, changing the pathways, changing how we deliver care, using the right technology and tools … We want solutions and changes that will be sustainable, not just in the short term, as important that is, but in the medium to longer term.”
For those on the front lines of Canada’s health care “crisis,” this kind of change can’t come soon enough.
Nurses in particular have been bearing the brunt of patient frustrations over long wait times and lack of timely access to care.
And it’s been taking its toll on the dwindling numbers of nurses who have not decided to retire early or leave the profession entirely, as many across Canada have been doing in recent months, says Jane Casey, a registered nurse and director of emergency at Humber River Hospital in Ontario.
“There have been times where the stress of the moment gets to people and they do raise their voice and are quite concerned,” Casey said.
“So I would say, pack your patience. We’re doing the very best we can.”
With files from Global News’ Jamie Mauracher
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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Ontario Legislature keffiyeh ban remains, though Ford and opposition leaders ask for reversal – CBC.ca
Keffiyehs remain banned in the Ontario Legislature after a unanimous consent motion that would have allowed the scarf to be worn failed to pass at Queen’s Park Thursday.
That vote, brought forth by NDP Leader Marit Stiles, failed despite Premier Doug Ford and the leaders of the province’s opposition parties all stating they want to see the ban overturned. Complete agreement from all MPPs is required for a motion like this to pass, and there were a smattering of “nos” after it was read into the record.
In an email on Wednesday, Speaker Ted Arnott said the legislature has previously restricted the wearing of clothing that is intended to make an “overt political statement” because it upholds a “standard practice of decorum.”
“The Speaker cannot be aware of the meaning of every symbol or pattern but when items are drawn to my attention, there is a responsibility to respond. After extensive research, I concluded that the wearing of keffiyehs at the present time in our Assembly is intended to be a political statement. So, as Speaker, I cannot authorize the wearing of keffiyehs based on our longstanding conventions,” Arnott said in an email.
Speaking at Queen’s Park Thursday, Arnott said he would reconsider the ban with unanimous consent from MPPs.
“If the house believes that the wearing of the keffiyeh in this house, at the present time, is not a political statement, I would certainly and unequivocally accept the express will of the house with no ifs, ands or buts,” he said.
Keffiyehs are a commonly worn scarf among Arabs, but hold special significance to Palestinian people. They have been a frequent sight among pro-Palestinian protesters calling for an end to the violence in Gaza as the Israel-Hamas� war continues.
Premier calls for reversal
Ford said Thursday he’s hopeful Arnott will reverse the ban, but he didn’t say if he would instruct his caucus to support the NDP’s motion.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Ford said the decision was made by the speaker and nobody else.
“I do not support his decision as it needlessly divides the people of our province. I call on the speaker to reverse his decision immediately,” Ford said.
PC Party MPP Robin Martin, who represents Eglinton–Lawrence, voted against the unanimous consent motion Thursday and told reporters she believes the speaker’s initial ruling was the correct one.
“We have to follow the rules of the legislature, otherwise we politicize the entire debate inside the legislature, and that’s not what it’s about. What it’s about is we come there and use our words to persuade, not items of clothing.”
When asked if she had defied a directive from the premier, Martin said, “It has nothing to do with the premier, it’s a decision of the speaker of the legislative assembly.”
Stiles told reporters Thursday she’s happy Ford is on her side on this issue, but added she is disappointed the motion didn’t pass.
“The premier needs to talk to his people and make sure they do the right thing,” she said.
Stiles first urged Arnott to reconsider the ban in an April 12 letter. She said concerns over the directive first surfaced after being flagged by members of her staff, however they have gained prominence after Sarah Jama, Independent MPP for Hamilton Centre, posted about the issue on X, formerly Twitter.
Jama was removed from the NDP caucus for her social media comments on the Israel-Hamas war shortly after Oct. 7.
Jama has said she believes she was kicked out of the party because she called for a ceasefire in Gaza “too early” and because she called Israel an “apartheid state.”
Arnott told reporters Thursday that he began examining a ban on the Keffiyeh after one MPP made a complaint about another MPP, who he believes was Jama, who was wearing one.
Liberals also call for reversal
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie also called for a reversal of the ban on Wednesday night.
“Here in Ontario, we are home to a diverse group of people from so many backgrounds. This is a time when leaders should be looking for ways to bring people together, not to further divide us. I urge Speaker Arnott to immediately reconsider this move to ban the keffiyeh,” Crombie said.
Stiles said MPPs have worn kilts, kirpans, vyshyvankas and chubas in the legislature, saying such items of clothing not only have national and cultural associations, but have also been considered at times as “political symbols in need of suppression.”
She said Indigenous and non-Indigenous members have also dressed in traditional regalia and these items cannot be separated from their historical and political significance.
“The wearing of these important cultural and national clothing items in our Assembly is something we should be proud of. It is part of the story of who we are as a province,” she said.
“Palestinians are part of that story, and the keffiyeh is a traditional clothing item that is significant not only to them but to many members of Arab and Muslim communities. That includes members of my staff who have been asked to remove their keffiyehs in order to come to work. This is unacceptable.”
Stiles added that House of Commons and other provincial legislatures allow the wearing of keffiyehs in their chambers and the ban makes Ontario an “outlier.”
Suppression of cultural symbols part of genocide: MPP
Jama said on X that the ban is “unsurprising” but “nonetheless concerning” in a country that has a legacy of colonialism. “Part of committing genocide is the forceful suppression of cultural identity and cultural symbols,” she said in part.
“Seeing those in power in this country at all levels of government, from federal all the way down to school boards, aid Israel’s colonial regime with these tactics in the oppression of Palestinian people proves that reconciliation is nothing but a word when spoken by state powers,” she said.
Amira Elghawaby, Canada’s Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia, said on X that it is “deeply ironic” on that keffiyehs were banned in the Ontario legislature on the 42nd anniversary of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“This is wrong and dangerous as we have already seen violence and exclusion impact Canadians, including Muslims of Palestinian descent, who choose to wear this traditional Palestinian clothing,” Elghawaby said.
Arnott said the keffiyeh was not considered a “form of protest” in the legislature prior to statements and debates that happened in the House last fall.
“These items are not absolutes and are not judged in a vacuum,” he said.
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Best in Canada: Jets Beat Canucks to Finish Season as Top Canadian Club – The Hockey News
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Best in Canada: Jets Beat Canucks to Finish Season as Top Canadian Club The Hockey News
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Health Canada sperm donation rules changing for gay men – CTV News
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
The policy change would remove the current donor screening criteria, allowing men who have sex with men to legally donate sperm for the first time in more than 30 years, as part of the anonymous donation process.
This update comes after CTV News first reported last year that a gay man was taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of the policy on the basis that it violates the right to equality in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
According to an email Health Canada sent stakeholders informing them of the upcoming amendments to the federal directive, “sperm donors will instead be asked gender-neutral, sexual behaviour-based donor screening questions,” more in-line with the 2022 change made by Canadian Blood Services to its donation policy.
However, instead of entirely eradicating restrictions for gay and bisexual men, lawyer Gregory Ko – whose client, Aziz M., brought the case – cautioned that Health Canada will continue to bar donations from those who have had new or multiple partners in the last three months, based on rules regarding anal sex. CTV News has agreed to protect the full identity of Aziz M. out of concerns for his privacy.
Ko said while the update is an important milestone, his client intends to maintain his challenge against the Health Canada directive, “and the continued discrimination contained in this latest revision.”
“Based on our understanding of the science, there is no scientific justification for screening criteria that continues to discriminate on the basis of sexual activity and sexual orientation, since the testing and quarantine protocols already in place allow sperm banks to detect relevant infections and exclude such donations,” Ko said.
Currently, a Health Canada directive prohibits gay and bisexual men from donating sperm to a sperm bank for general use, unless they’ve been abstinent for three months or are donating to someone they know.
For example, it stops any gay man who is sexually active from donating, even if they are in a long-term monogamous relationship.
Under the “Safety of Sperm and Ova Regulation,” sperm banks operating in Canada must deem these prospective donors “unsuitable,” despite all donations being subject to screening, testing and a six-month quarantine before they can be used.
While the directive does not mention transgender or non-binary donors, the policy also applies to individuals who may not identify as male but would be categorized as men under the directive.
It’s a blanket policy that the Toronto man bringing the lawsuit said made him feel like a “second-class citizen,” and goes to the heart of the many barriers that exist for LGBTQ2S+ Canadians looking to have children.
When CTV News first reported on the lawsuit, Health Canada and various federal ministers said they would be “exploring” a policy change, citing the progress made on blood donation rules.
The update comes following “the consultations held in August 2023 and January 2024,” according to Health Canada.
This is a breaking news story, more to come…
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