Liberal health critic Adil Shamji wants the province to ban private-pay nurse practitioner clinics instead of waiting on the feds to do so. His private member's bill, to be tabled Wednesday afternoon, would do just that. The Keeping Primary Care Fair Act would also increase penalties for breaking the law. Shamji shared an advance copy with The Trillium.

As primary care shortages persist in Ontario, private-payer nurse practitioner clinics have come under scrutiny for openly charging patients fees to access primary care services normally provided by a family doctor.

Though charging for services covered under provincial medicare programs is illegal under the Canada Health Act, some nurse practitioners say they're exempt because they're not allowed to bill public insurance. Not everyone agrees with that interpretation.

"The reality is that there's something that can be done right now by the provincial Minister of Health, and she is, in my opinion, refusing deliberately to act," he said.

Two other Conservative-led provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have taken steps to bring nurse practitioners under the public system, he noted. Ontario also funds some public nurse practitioner clinics that do not charge patients. Shamji's bill would not affect those.

As the Ford government expands publicly funded, privately delivered health care, Shamji said he's convinced [Ford's Health Minister] Jones has "a deliberate privatization agenda that is communicated, if not by her words, certainly by her actions."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20492570

The drive west along the 401 into Mississauga is lined with factories, box stores, furniture outlets and timber suppliers. It’s an industrial area, but also a commuters’ hub, where people from across the Greater Toronto Area come to gather at mosques, temples and weddings in splashed-out convention centres.

Residents seem unaware of a facility in an inconspicuous office building at the intersection of Ambassador Drive and Kennedy Road South, one that uses an invisible and odourless carcinogenic gas.

The plant is owned by Sterigenics, which sterilizes medical supplies, like respirators, using ethylene oxide — an effective sterilant of heat-sensitive devices used by many of North America’s doctors, hospitals and health centres. Ethylene oxide emissions are toxic to humans when high amounts are breathed in and the chemical has been considered to have “a probability of harm at any level of exposure” by Environment Canada and Health Canada since 1999. (PDF link)

Sotera Health, the Ohio-based company that owns Sterigenics, has been named in a series of American lawsuits brought by claimants who say they developed illnesses, particularly cancers including leukemia, myeloma, lymphoma and breast cancer, because of ethylene oxide exposure. In 2023, the company agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit in Illinois, paying claimants US$408 million. It’s also paying out US$35 million in Georgia. In both instances, Sterigenics said the settlements should not be considered an “admission of liability.” A New Mexico case is pending.

This letter was written by a group of nurses across Ontario who are remaining anonymous for fear of professional backlash.

As rank and file nurses, we are disgraced by the ongoing complicity of our health care leaders and institutions seven months into Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza. We must take matters into our own hands in the pursuit of justice. As one of the slogans of the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) goes, “The nurses are coming. Injustice makes us angry. Anger makes us act.”

While ONA’s most recent statement on Apr. 12 urges the Canadian government “to do everything in its power to achieve a ceasefire and restore access to humanitarian aid and health care,” and also “uphold international law,” it steers clear of mentioning an arms embargo, which is a concrete and necessary precondition to all of the above. It is also worth noting that the statement was not published as a media release nor on ONA’s social media accounts, so it is unclear how it is intended to put any political pressure on the Canadian government, or even empower rank and file nurses to do so.

Locally, ONA has a responsibility to support us in the face of grave moral distress and from the threat of harassment and reprisal in our workplaces related to our solidarity with Palestine. It also has a responsibility to explicitly address and combat anti-Palestinian racism. To date, ONA’s tepid statements have been hard to distinguish from that of our hospital CEOs. Those of us who are Palestinian-Canadian feel particularly betrayed, as we continue to show up to work and care for our patients while experiencing repression here and the heartache of losing loved ones in Palestine. As our union, we demand more of you.

A former vice-president of the Progressive Conservative party has been appointed an Ontario judge — a move opposition parties say is the latest example of the government putting insiders into prestigious roles.

On Monday, the province announced Sara Mintz was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice and will be stationed in Toronto.

How is this not part of the "gravy train"?

What if one of these judges were to preside over a potential Greenbelt trial?

Please contact your MPPs about this, especially if your MPP is Conservative!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/19898194

A fundraiser meant to help Umar Zameer’s family pay their debts following a three-year prosecution has amassed nearly $150,000 in donations in the two days since the Brampton accountant was acquitted of first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto police officer.

The Ontario government has agreed to pay $320,000 in legal fees to a class action seeking $200 million in damages for the early termination of a basic income pilot project.

The 4,000 members involved argue the cancellation of a government-run basic income program equates to a breach of contract

Yay! More BS that only puts us further behind!

Ontario's health care spending was the lowest in Canada per capita and below the average of other provinces in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, according to a new report by a government watchdog.

According to the report, health care spending per capita in Ontario was $4,889 in 2022-2023, the lowest in Canada, and $876, or 15.2 per cent, below the average of the other provinces. […]

"Since 2008, Ontario's health spending per capita has consistently ranked at or near the lowest in Canada," the report reads.

You can read the report here.