In the news
Media Contact: Mark Rovere The Fraser Institute April 4, 2026 |
Sluggish government approvals create two-and-a-half year wait for Canadians to access new medicines TORONTO, ON—Canadians are waiting nearly two-and-a-half years for government bureaucracies to approve new prescription drugs for public use, finds a new report from the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank. The study, Access Delayed, Access Denied 2012: Waiting for New Medicines in Canada, points out that in 2010, Health Canada took 527 days on average to certify new drugs as safe and effective, while the provinces added another 358 days to approve new drugs for coverage under public drug plans...... read more . . . |
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by ALEX BOUTILIER METRO HALIFAX JANUARY 18, 2026 |
All talk, no action won’t fix health care Nova Scotia’s premier says the provinces have time on their side in their quest to bring the federal government back to the table on health transfers. Darrell Dexter said his provincial counterparts aim to come up with a different vision for health-care funding than the one presented by the federal government in December. “We’ve got a couple of years to lay out a path forward for health care in Canada..... read more . . . |
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by MARK ROVERE, EDMONTON JOURNAL JANUARY 18, 2026 |
Edmonton Journal Op Ed: True health reform long overdue As the premiers meet this week in Victoria, a number of provinces are clearly distressed about the federal government's plan to reduce the automatic annual increase in health transfers from the current six per cent to the rate of economic growth starting in 2017-18. While the announcement has not been applauded by most premiers and their respective health ministers, it is long overdue. The reason is quite simple: after decades of chatter, including millions of wasted tax dollars on government commissions, this new funding arrangement is the only way provinces will be encouraged..... read more . . . |
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by LES WHITTINGTON, Ottawa Bureau ROBERT BENZIE Queen’s Park Bureau Chief From the Toronto Star December 19, 2025 |
Ottawa to scale back health transfer payments Ontarians will face reduced health services later this decade under Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to scale back Ottawa’s transfer payments to the provinces as of 2017, warns Dwight Duncan. The Ontario finance minister and other provincial treasurers got the news in the form of a pre-emptive political strike by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty at a meeting in Victoria on Monday. The annual 6 per cent increases in health transfers enjoyed by the provinces in recent years will no longer be guaranteed by Ottawa after 2016, Flaherty informed his surprised counterparts. Instead, yearly increases in medicare funding will be tied to the rate of economic growth plus inflation, probably in the 4 per cent range..... read more . . . |
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by CRAIG MCINNES POSTMEDIA NEWS December 20, 2025 |
Premiers puzzle over 'containing' health care Implications; Flaherty may link funds to economic growth Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says talks this week on healthcare funding are about protecting the "Canadian brand," while provinces are concerned about maintaining health-care services. Flaherty, who is meeting here with his provincial and territorial counterparts, said Monday that costs need to be contained to protect Canada's reputation for good fiscal planning. "We all realize that public finances relate to revenues and we can't pretend that we can spend money that we don't have and if we do that we run the risk of damaging the Canadian brand," he said...... read more . . . |
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by JOHN IVISON From the National Post December 13, 2025 |
Reality tempers health-funding discord between Ottawa and provinces Jim Flaherty must have known his words would come back to haunt him. During the spring election, the Finance Minister discussed the Conservative commitment to maintain health-care transfers to the provinces on a 6% escalator, after the current accord ends in March 2014. “We need to negotiate with the provinces and say: How long an agreement do you want? A five-year agreement? A 10-year agreement? A two-year agreement? … We will keep it at 6% for whatever the duration of the agreement is,” he told CBC Radio in March...... read more . . . |
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by ADAM RADWANSKI From the Globe and Mail August 12, 2026 |
McGuinty inherits lead role for hard-hit east in health-care battle Rarely has the growing divide been more pronounced. In Western Canada, where economic prospects are relatively rosy and budget deficits comparatively manageable, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s musings about curbing growth in federal health transfers were greeted mostly with shrugs. Saskatchewan’s Premier, Brad Wall, seemed almost to welcome the prospect. Alberta’s Alison Redford similarly talked about the importance of moving beyond haggling over dollars. British Columbia’s Health Minister, Mike de Jong, said it was “not a surprise” that the federal government wanted to talk about the “finite ability” to pay for health care. Manitoba simply declined to take the bait...... read more . . . |
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Video from Candian Press From the Globe and Mail Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 |
Ontario blasts Ottawa over healh-care funding Ontario is accusing Ottawa of abandoning its promise to maintain six per cent annual increases to health care funding. It comes after a report saying the federal finance minister is planning to tie future increases to economic growth..... read more . . . |
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by BILL CURRY AND KAREN HOWLETT From the Globe and Mail Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011 |
Ottawa warned of consequences of shrinking health transfers Ottawa is being warned that front-line health services for Canadians will be on the chopping block unless the federal government backs away from plans to shrink the size of yearly increases for health transfers. In the run-up to a key meeting Monday in Victoria between federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and his provincial and territorial peers, Ottawa is provoking swift reaction from several provincial capitals for signalling a desire to move away from annual 6-per-cent increases for health transfers..... read more . . . |
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by SCOTT STINSON From the National Post December 12, 2025 |
Tories Push Health Cap Propose to tie spending hikes to GDP growth Jim Flaherty, the federal Finance Minister, will insist that future health-funding increases be linked to growth in the economy when he meets with his provincial counterparts in Victoria, B.C., next Monday. The manoeuvre would cut increases to about half of what the provinces have come to expect. But it is understood the Conservatives are ready to bank on the public’s willingness to accept some belt-tightening, after a decade of growth in health-care spending..... read more . . . |
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by JANE TABER From the Globe and Mail December 11, 2025 |
Health-care talks aren’t just about money, Saskatchewan Premier says Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says provinces are focusing too much on money and not enough on innovation and results when it comes to dealing with health care. Money is only one part of the solution, he says. And although Saskatchewan is supportive of the federal government’s commitment to 6-per-cent annual increases in health-care funding until 2015-16, it is “not there yet” in terms of demanding another 10-year deal...... read more . . . |
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Health Council of Canada DECEMBER 2011 CANADIAN HEALTH CARE MATTERS BULLETIN 6 PDF File |
HCC How Do Sicker Canadians Rate the Health Care System TThis bulletin reports on the recent health care experiences of Canadians with chronic conditions who are in fair or poor health, and compares their perceptions to those of the general public. Why make such a comparison? If your goal is a sustainable, high-quality health care system, chronic disease is one place where the rubber hits the road. Chronic diseases are increasingly common, frequently complex (due to the rising numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions), by definition persistent, and often costly to care for, both for the health care system and for individuals and their families. Appropriately, chronic disease was a key theme of the 2004 health accord, the 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, in which First Ministers talked about the importance of “reducing pressure on the health care system” and, “in particular, managing chronic disease more effectively [to] counter a growing trend of increasing disease burden.” Roughly half of Canadians live with one or more chronic health conditions, according to a 2010 report by the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Transforming Care for Canadians with Chronic Health Conditions. And the prevalence of chronic disease is increasing: In 2007, 46% of Canadians responding to the Commonwealth Fund’s international survey of the general public reported having a chronic condition1....... read more . . . |
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by JAMES MCLEOD From ST. JOHN'S TELEGRAM December 5, 2025 |
Atlantic premiers form united front on health funding ST. JOHN'S — Even if they weren't represented here, the federal government was at the centre of the Atlantic premiers Monday morning. Health care topped the agenda, and all four leaders agreed that when they sit down to renegotiate a federal-provincial accord, the provinces need more money..... read more . . . |
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by JOSH WINGROVE, KAREN HOWLETT, RHÉAL SÉGUIN AND OLIVER MOORE From the Globe and Mail November 23, 2025 |
Provinces to seek solidarity on new health accord informally Canada’s health ministers are putting up a united front as they gather in Halifax, hoping to stick together amid high-stakes talks but set to only scrape the surface of a lengthy battle over how Canada funds and delivers health care..... read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD - PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail November 22, 2025 |
Days of blindly topping up medicare are over When Canada’s health ministers meet this week, one issue will dominate discussions, at the table, in the corridors and in the media: The 2014 Health Accord. The meeting in Halifax on Thursday and Friday will be the first formal opportunity for Ottawa, the provinces and territories to feel each other out on this crucial financial and political issue..... read more . . . |
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By DAVID REEVELY, from The Ottawa Citizen September 27, 2025 |
Ontario has a bad case of ‘bed-blockers’ Ontario’s problem with elderly patients stuck in hospital beds where they don’t belong is the worst in Canada, says a provincial report, and the Eastern Ontario health region has more problems than most. People stuck in hospital — informally called “bed-blockers,” but more officially known as..... read more . . . |
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From The Province September 7, 2025 |
Ready to fight cancer, again Len Gross, a founding member of the foundation and the Prostate Cancer Canada Network, as well as facilitator of the Vancouver Prostate Support Group known as Vancouver PSA Group, stresses the importance of working together to overcome the disease. Gross himself is a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed in May 1992..... read more . . . |
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by SHARON KIRKEY From POSTMEDIA NEWS August 22, 2025 |
New health-transfer deal will come with strings: minister Aglukkaq says 'clear emphasis' will be on accountability Canada's health minister says any new deal on health transfers from the federal government to the provinces will ensure governments are held accountable for how health-care dollars are spent..... read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD - PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail August 22, 2025 |
Canadians want health charter to guarantee quality and timeliness The time has come for a “patient health charter” that clearly spells out the state’s obligation to deliver timely, quality health care - one with a complaint mechanism that provides redress when medicare fails to live up to expectations.... read more . . . |
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by SCOTT STINSON From the National Pos August 12, 2026 |
Canadian health care’s broken record Years of warning have had no effect on status quo No one wants to confront the difficult realities facing the system It might be simpler for all the various organizations and entities that have asked Canada’s governments to consider substantive reform to the country’s health-care system if they could just agree on a standard set of warnings and pleadings and then reissue the report periodically. .... read more . . . |
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by MEAGAN FITZPATRICK CBC News August 10, 2026 |
Health-care reform needs political support, doctors say Canadians are asking for political leadership to help fix a broken health-care system, the head of the Canadian Medical Association said Wednesday. Dr. Jeff Turnbull presented the results of the CMA's national dialogue on health-care transformation.... read more . . . |
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by LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail July 26, 2026 |
My doctor threatened to fire me for going to a walk-in clinic. Why? The Question: My child had a severe eye infection and I did not feel comfortable waiting nine days for the next available appointment with my family doctor. I took him to the local walk-in clinic and received much-needed antibiotics. My family doctor said if we go to a walk-in clinic again, we will no longer be his patients.... read more . . . |
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by ADRIANA BARTON From the Globe and Mail July 26, 2026 |
Big Pharma wants to ‘friend’ you Married with three children, Mary Ellen lives in the Bronx, N.Y., and likes hiking in the Adirondacks. But until she learned how to manage her Type 2 diabetes, she was tired and hungry all the time.... read more . . . |
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by ROBERT BENZIE ROB FERGUSON From Healthzone.ca July 22, 2026 |
Premiers reach deal on bulk-buying of expensive drug It’s drug deal that could save lives — and millions of dollars. After years of negotiations, Canada’s premiers have agreed to band together to bulk-buy the drug Soliris, which is used to combat a rare blood disease.... read more . . . |
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by MOIRA WELSH, Staff Reporter From the Toronto Star July 21, 2026 |
Nursing home gave Tylenol to resident with broken leg For 24 days, Sylvia Bailey screamed in pain from an untreated broken leg in her Niagara-on-the-Lake nursing home. Nearly every day, Bailey’s daughter, Alison Hegarty, begged the home to X-ray her mother’s left leg for a fracture, knowing she had fallen from her wheelchair four times in the past year, hitting the floor so hard she had a permanent dent in her forehead.... read more . . . |
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by SHERYL UBELACKER From Healthzone.ca July 13, 2026 |
First new drug approved for lupus in 50 years It’s known as “the disease of a thousand faces” and for good reason — lupus can affect so many divergent areas of the body that no two people are afflicted with exactly the same symptoms, posing a challenge for doctors trying to tailor an individual’s treatment.... read more . . . |
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by MARK ROVERE From the National Post July 6, 2026 |
Pharmacare: The cure is worse than the disease There has been much discussion in the past 10 years about whether Canada needs a national Pharmacare plan. Unfortunately, the plan is driven by ideology as opposed to common sense. While reform of provincial drug plans is necessary, a national... read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD From the Globe and Mail June 22, 2026 |
Finally, a health-care paper that makes sense If you gave so-called “ordinary Canadians” the opportunity to have a thoughtful, informed discussion about the state of health care and asked them for recommendations on how to sustain and improve the system, what exactly would they come up with?... read more . . . |
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by LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail June 21, 2026 |
Patients with chronic conditions get one-stop care If you gave so-called “ordinary Canadians” the opportunity to have a thoughtful, informed discussion about the state of health care and asked them for recommendations on how to sustain and improve the system, what exactly would they come up with?... read more . . . |
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by LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail June 19, 2026 |
Why won’t my province cover drugs that others do? I was recently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (it has spread to my brain, liver and bone) and my doctor told me if I do not get a drug called Tykerb, I may not see Christmas. The drug is not funded in British Columbia. It costs about $3,600 a month. Tykerb is, however, funded in other provinces. Why can someone living in Nova Scotia who has metastatic breast cancer get coverage for this drug but I can’t?... read more . . . |
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by JANE TABER From the Globe and Mail June 2, 2026 |
Health-care talks with provinces should top Harper’s list, poll finds Never mind getting tough on crime: Canadians want Stephen Harper and his majority government to figure out healthcare with the provinces, according to a new survey.... read more . . . |
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by JOANNA SMITH From Healthzone.ca May 31, 2026 |
Health-care talks with provinces should top Harper’s list, poll finds OTTAWA—The Canadian health care system has moved very slowly — when it has not stalled completely — towards meeting goals political leaders proclaimed would fix the system for a generation... read more . . . |
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by LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail Apr. 29, 2011 |
Breast cancer patient takes out line of credit to pay for Herceptin A breast cancer patient has had to take out a line of credit to pay for a $50,000-a-year drug because her tumour - caught through a mammogram - was a smidgen too small to qualify for the medicine. read more . . . |
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by KEVIN LIBIN From the National Post Apr. 18, 2011 |
Suspend Health Act To Save System: Study Canadians have witnessed a dot-com bubble, housing bubbles and a green energy bubble. But now, the country is experiencing a “medicare bubble,” says a new report being released today by the Fraser Institute, and it’s got the provinces headed toward severe financial trouble if the federal government doesn’t loosen the constraints of the Canada Health Act. read more . . . |
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by KEVIN LIBIN From the National Post Apr. 18, 2011 |
The great health care squeeze After remaining more or less dormant early in the election campaign, the debate over health-care spending leapt to the forefront over the past week. On Sunday, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff pledged to convene a first ministers’ meeting on the subject within months of being elected, while on Saturday Stephen Harper decried the Liberals’ “shameful record” of cutbacks. And NDP leader Jack Layton wasn’t to be left out, declaring, “Who do you trust to take on the issue of health care?” to be a key issue in the campaign. read more . . . |
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by CARLY WEEKS From the Globe and Mail Apr. 13, 2011 |
Medical marvel: A U.S. doctor discovers Canadian health care Eight doctors from the U.S.-based Physicians for a National Health Program visited Toronto’s Women’s College Hospital for an inside look at Canada’s single-payer health care system. Hosting the trip was family physician Danielle Martin, chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare. New York dermatologist Elizabeth Rosenthal, board member of the New York metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, spoke to The Globe and Mail about what she learned during her visit. read more . . . |
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by RICHARD C. OWENS From the National Post Apr. 7, 2011 |
Time for an RHSP The delivery of medical care is becoming too expensive for provincial budgets, even while insufficient investment is being made in innovation and improvement in patient care. In the result, still more costs are being downloaded to patients as treatments, procedures and drugs are delisted, or never listed, to help contain costs. The solution is a Registered Health Savings Plan (RHSP). read more . . . |
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by TERENCE CORCORAN From the National Post Apr. 7, 2011 |
The crisis no leader is talking
about Into the vacuous open pit of policy trivialities that has become this election, David Dodge, former governor of the Bank of Canada, has just dropped a ticking time bomb. The Canadian universal health care model, with governments as the major funders of service, is fiscally unsustainable. read more . . . |
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by KEITH MARTIN, a physician, served as the Member of Parliament for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca from 1993-2011. keithmartin.org From the Financial Post Apr. 7, 2011 |
We need two-tiered medicine A grey tsunami is hitting our shores and Canada is utterly unprepared to deal with it. Currently, there are four workers for every retiree. In the next 20 years, this ratio will shrink to two workers for every person over the age of 65. read more . . . |
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by CARLY WEEKS AND LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail Apr. 4, 2011 |
Lack of catastrophic drug program a black eye for Canada Canada might not have a national catastrophic drug program, but there are plenty of international models the federal government could look to should it ever decide to adopt one. Canada is one of the only developed countries that doesn’t have a national catastrophic program to prevent citizens who don’t have insurance from spending exorbitant amounts of money on prescription drugs. read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail Apr. 5, 2011 |
The cost of drugs: breaking the bank to stay alive Julie Easley had just graduated from the University of New Brunswick when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She was 23 and broke - with exactly $9 in her bank account. Thankfully, in Canada, her medical care was free of charge - or so she thought. read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail Mar. 30, 2011 |
Politicians must be clear on ‘federal' health issues Constitutionally, health care is a provincial responsibility. So, during a federal election campaign, there isn’t much to say, right? Wrong. The notion that health is exclusively a provincial matter has no basis in law or in fact. It’s nothing but a convenient excuse for federal politicians to avoid uncomfortable questions. read more . . . |
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by SHAUN FRANCIS, chairman and CEO of Medcan, North America’s largest preventive health clinic and one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies. From the National Post Mar. 23, 2011 |
‘Death panels’ by any other name On Sunday, Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews reversed her ministry’s decision to not provide Herceptin, a cancer drug, to Jill Anzarut, a 35 year-old Toronto mother of two, as well as other people in Ms. Anzarut’s position. The reversal capped a remarkable two weeks that saw Ms. Anzarut pleading her case through such social media as Twitter and Facebook, as well as the mainstream press. read more . . . |
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CBC News Mar. 22, 2011 |
Health Canada 'silent' on drug safety decision Health Canada is too secretive about how it evaluates new medications and devices compared to the U.S., a medical journal editorial says. The "open government" strategy that Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on Friday will be hard to implement when it comes to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, this week's editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says. read more . . . |
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by GLORIA GALLOWAY From the Globe and Mail Mar. 14, 2011 |
Provinces, health-care providers hold out hope for help in budget The looming expiry of a major national health accord is creating large uncertainties around future funding but health will likely get scant mention in the federal budget that is scheduled to be released next week. Although it now eats up more than 40 per cent of provincial budgets, health care consumes less than 13 cents of every federal spending dollar. That’s an equation the federal government is not eager to change as it grapples with a deficit of tens of billions of dollars. read more . . . |
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GLOBE EDITORIAL Mar. 20, 2011 |
No dodging the health care question Even in the most optimistic scenario set out by David Dodge, the former Bank of Canada governor, health care will gobble up an increasing share of Canada’s wealth year after year, forcing unpalatable choices on the country. Well, maybe an election isn’t the time to talk about chronic health-care spending disease, as Mr. Dodge and his co-author, economist Richard Dion, describe the affliction. It doesn’t seem to be, anyway, to judge by the deafening silence on health care, particularly from the Conservatives and Liberals. read more . . . |
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by BY JAMESON BERKOW From the National Post Feb. 28, 2011 |
Doctor prescribes technology fix for health care Revolution, not evolution, is needed to control the spiralling cost of Canadian health care without dismantling the public system for which Canada is renowned, says a parliamentary hopeful who argues technology is the key to driving that revolution. read more . . . |
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by GLORIA GALLOWAY AND LISA PRIEST From the Globe and Mail Feb. 28, 2011 |
Doctors urge Health Care Action Plan to thwart ‘looming crisis’ Doctors say federal leadership is needed to avert a looming health-care crisis and that better co-ordinated care, not drastic cuts or a move to private care, will ultimately make the public system sustainable. read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail Feb. 23, 2011 |
Drug R&D costs are less than estimated - so why the high prices? It costs, on average, $1.3-billion (U.S.) in research and development to bring a new drug to market. That level of investment in R&D by Big Pharma justifies the high cost of prescription drugs. Those statements are repeated so often that they have come to be accepted as fact. But are they fact or fiction? read more . . . |
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| by Brett J. Skinner And Mark Rovere From the Financial Post Feb. 2, 2011 |
Speed and drugs Conservative MP Terence Young recently accused Health Canada of putting lives at risk by approving too many new drugs too quickly. Young contends that, instead of focusing on the safety of new medicines, Health Canada is helping pharmaceutical companies market their drugs. But the facts tell a different story and clearly show that, on this issue, Mr. Young is wrong. read more . . . |
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by ANDRÉ PICARD PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER From the Globe and Mail Jan. 27, 2011 |
Being old doesn’t mean being sick, research shows There is much angst these days about the impact of the aging population on health-care utilization and spending. But new research is adding a twist to the discussion, concluding that it is the rise in people living with chronic health conditions like hypertension, diabetes and depression that is driving up health costs, not aging per se. read more . . . |
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by Gloria Galloway (PDF File) From the Globe and Mail Dec. 14, 2010 |
Doctors want help in setting agenda; CMA wants to persuade Ottawa to fund drug costs and long-term acute care and looks to public input for added clout Canada's doctors want to expand the national health-care umbrella to include pharmacare and long-term care, and they want ordinary Canadians to join them in pressing their case to the government. The Canadian Medical Association announced on Monday that it is beginning a public dialogue to let decision makers know what Canadians want in their health- care system - a consultation that will take place as provinces, territories and the federal government look ahead to the expiry of the Canada Health Transfer Program in 2014. read more . . . |
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A study prepared by InnovationCanada |
Innovation in Canada A report by the Government in Canada, showing the corelation between innovation and growth in Canada. read more . . . |
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