Health
Canadian patients face long waits for diagnostic imaging
From the Fraser Institute
Polling data from earlier this year is crystal clear—the majority Canadians believe their health-care system has worsened over the past decade and more money won’t fix the problem.
Who could blame them?
This year we’ve seen reports of the regular closing of emergency room services, studies finding that one in five Canadians are without access to a regular a family doctor, and that the country now boasts some of the longest waits for medically necessary surgery in 30 years.
It’s no secret that the rationing of care through long wait times has become the defining characteristic of Canadian health care. In fact, in 2023 Canadians could expect to wait a median of 27.7 weeks for treatment—nearly seven weeks longer than in 2019 and almost three times longer than the 9.3-week wait in 1993.
While bottlenecks can be found nearly everywhere throughout the system, less talked about are the increasingly lengthy waits Canadians face when trying to access timely diagnostic services.
In 2023, reported waits for an MRI were found to be a median of 12.9 weeks—two weeks longer than last year, and the longest on record in at least a decade. We see a similar thing for CT scans where the 6.6-week wait this year is a week longer than last year (and also the longest in at least a decade).
So why the lengthening delays?
One reason is that, when compared to other countries with universal coverage, Canada has some of the lowest availability of key diagnostic imaging technology in the industrialized world despite being one of the highest spenders among the same cohort.
Take CT scanners, for example. In 2019 (the latest year of available data), Canada ranked 26th (of 30 countries) for the number of scanners available. At 14.9 units per million population, this doesn’t even come close to the availability of this technology among top performers such as Japan, which reported having five-and-a-half times as many scanners. We see a similar story with MRI units, where Canada ranks 25th out of 29 countries and reports an availability of stock four times smaller than Japan’s. Canada also had middling to poor results for the volume of diagnostic examinations performed, ranking 13th of 26 for CT scans and 18th out of 26 for MRI exams per thousand population.
Ultimately, poor access to diagnostic imaging not only frustrates the timely triaging of patients, it can also potentially add onto already lengthy waits for scheduled treatment (which again are the longest in at least three decades).
Canadian patients face many challenges in seeking to access timely elective surgical care including lengthy waits for diagnostic services. Improving access to medical imaging is a first step towards improving this access.
From LifeSiteNews
British Columbia premier David Eby announced that his province plans to re-criminalize hard drug use in public spaces after its decriminalization last year led to widespread social disorder.
British Columbia is asking the Trudeau government to roll back its drug decriminalization program after increased violence and continued overdoses.
On April 26, New Democratic Party (NDP) premier of British Columbia David Eby announced that he is working with Prime Minster Justin Trudeau’s federal government to re-criminalize drug use in public spaces, including inside hospitals, on transit, and in parks. British Columbia, under permission from the Trudeau government, had decriminalized such behavior in 2023.
“Keeping people safe is our highest priority,” Eby explained in a press release. “While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe.”
“We’re taking action to make sure police have the tools they need to ensure safe and comfortable communities for everyone as we expand treatment options so people can stay alive and get better,” he continued.
Under the new regulations, police would be given the power to prevent drug use in all public places, including hospitals, restaurants, transit, parks and beaches.
However, drug use would remain legal at “a private residence or place where someone is legally sheltering, or at overdose prevention sites and drug checking locations.”
Eby’s concerns over drug use were echoed by Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth who said, “Our communities are facing big challenges. People are dying from deadly street drugs, and we see the issues with public use and disorder on our streets.”
“As we continue to go after the gangs and organized criminals who are making and trafficking toxic drugs, we’re taking action now to make it illegal to use drugs in public spaces, and to expand access to treatment to help people who need it most,” he promised.
Beginning in early 2023, Trudeau’s federal policy, in effect, decriminalized hard drugs on a trial-run basis in British Columbia.
Under the policy, the federal government began allowing people within the province to possess up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs without criminal penalty, but selling drugs remained a crime.
While British Columbia has not yet indicated it plans to re-criminalize possession, its decision to clamp down on public drug use presents a major departure from its previous tactics of continually liberalizing its attitude toward narcotic use.
Since being implemented, the province’s drug policy has been widely criticized, especially after it was found that the province broke three different drug-related overdose records in the first month the new law was in effect.
The effects of decriminalizing hard drugs in various parts of Canada has been exposed in Aaron Gunn’s recent documentary, Canada is Dying, and in U.K. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton’s mini-documentary, Canada’s Woke Nightmare: A Warning to the West.
Gunn says he documents the “general societal chaos and explosion of drug use in every major Canadian city.”
“Overdose deaths are up 1,000 percent in the last 10 years,” he said in his film, adding that “[e]very day in Vancouver four people are randomly attacked.”
Addictions
Must Watch: Addiction worker estimates 90% of “safer supply” drugs resold on black market
“It’s just… it’s created more addicts,” says David McEvoy, an Ottawa-based outreach worker who specializes in overdose prevention.
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“Safer supply” refers to the practice of prescribing free recreational drugs as an alternative to potentially-tainted street substances. While advocates claim that this practice saves lives, David McEvoy, an Ottawa-based addiction outreach worker, says that approximately 90% of clients are reselling their taxpayer-funded drugs on the street, leading to new addictions and relapses.
His testimony is consistent with the testimony of dozens of addiction experts, former drug users, and youth. You can read a summary of his interview in the National Post here.
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