“Canada’s emergency room crisis is worse than we thought”: Globe and Mail
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
ER closures hit rural Canada especially hard
“Collectively, Canadian ERs closed their doors for at least 1.14 million hours since 2019 – the equivalent of 47,500 days. . . Since 2019, at least 34 per cent of Canadian ERs had an unplanned, short-term closure or a planned, long-lasting reduction in hours, usually shutting down on nights or weekends or both,” noted Kelly Grant, Tu Thanh Ha and Yang Sun for The Globe and Mail, July 4, 2025. Listen to the podcast here.
Manitoba doctors did more than 20,000 house calls in 2024
“I think there’s a lot of marginalized people, elderly people, who can’t get out, especially in the wintertime, and it makes a huge difference to a lot of people when someone can actually come see your kids at home. . .I used to do a lot of house calls, because that was how you built up the population of your patient load. You would offer services people would like, you’d go out and see the kids of the people you saw, and that was just part of being a doctor,” said Dr. Chris Emery at Envoy Medical Dispatch, which arranges house calls on weekdays, to The Winnipeg Free Press, July 7, 2025
Private surgeries are a “can of worms”: Ontario expands private, for-profit hip and knee surgery
“Public hospitals are being starved of staff and funding, while private providers receive inflated payments for the lowest complexity surgeries. . . We hope we don’t see the pervasive extra billing we have seen in other provinces,” said Andrew Longhurst with the Alberta-based Parkland Institute, to The Ottawa Citizen, July 4, 2025.
Longhurst’s research has found that hip, knee and shoulder surgeries outsourced to private, for-profit providers in Alberta cost more and contribute to rising wait times for other surgeries, including colorectal cancer surgery. Hear from Longhurst and others at a webinar on runaway health care privatization on July 15.
Former top doctor blames Danielle Smith for measles surge in Alberta
“We have a situation basically in which the province wasn’t properly prepared or led and which has slow-walked virtually everything. If they had had this kind of response to the forest fires in Alberta — that same kind of slow-don’t-worry-about-it, and you know this is all individual choice — the province would be a smoking ruin by now,” said Dr. James Talbot, University of Alberta School of Public Health and former chief medical officer of health for Alberta and Nunavut, to The Tyee, July 7, 2025
Climate crisis a challenge for health care
“Single-use medical items represent hotspots of health care-related emissions. Surgical suites generate from 3.2 to 5.2 million kgCO2e annually, with anesthetic gases and disposables being primary contributors. (7) Although single-use items are often chosen due to concerns over infection control and convenience, the environmental cost of manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of these items is substantial. Moving towards reusable alternatives, particularly in high-use areas like operating rooms, can markedly reduce emissions. Research shows that for many applications, reusable options are both environmentally superior and economically advantageous in the long run, without negatively impacting patient outcomes,” stated Daniel G. Rainham and Sean D. Christie from Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Health, in Open Access Government, July 4, 2025
Union sues Health Canada over pesticide use
“There has been a dramatic increase in pesticide use in recent years. It is more important now than ever before that we hold the government responsible for the safety of the people, especially those working directly in these conditions. Agriculture is a large player in the Canadian economy, and disregard for the safety of our people shows systemic neglect and apathy for the safety of Canadians. The government is focusing on corporate interests rather than public safety. It has disregarded evidence of the danger of pesticides to the public, as well as ignored scientists who have raised concerns. It is the responsibility of the government to protect its citizens,” wrote Evan Cruickshank, referring to United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) lawsuit, in The Gateway, July 2, 2025. More on this story from CBC.
National COVID inquiry essential for trust in public health
“An inquiry is essential to prevent the same mistakes from being repeated. Had Canada kept its stockpile of N95 masks, fewer health care workers and patients would have become infected. Installing better ventilation and filtration systems in schools and hospitals would have proven a wiser investment than the billions spent on closures. It would also reveal how public health might better respond to mis- and disinformation. Yet calls for a comprehensive inquiry into the federal government’s pandemic response have gone unheeded. . . A transparent, national inquiry is essential to maintaining trust in public health,” wrote Dr. Iris Gorfinkel, physician and clinical researcher, in The Toronto Star, July 3, 2025
