“Healthcare Crisis”

Wait times for most of the province’s publicly funded priority surgeries and procedures have increased between 2017 and 2025, according to a study released Monday.

MRI scans, cataract surgeries and all cancer surgeries are among eight priority procedures that saw increased wait times during the period, out of a total of 12, according to the study published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

“It’s deeply alarming that so much money has been spent on for-profit surgeries and, yet, we don’t have the results to show what Ontarians are getting for those dollars,” said Andrew Longhurst, senior researcher at the centre.

I bet people abandoned OHIP in such numbers the private system is overwhelmed.

And what role does dumping the 3rd World into the mix have to do with this?

Sweden and Canada operate publicly financed universal health-care systems, but access to care in the Nordic country is “markedly better,” according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.

In 2024, wait times leading to unmet medical needs affected two per cent of Swedes, compared with 9.1 per cent of Canadians, says the report’s author, Yanick Labrie.

With the rise in popularity of the Democratic Socialist movement in the United States, one of the promises made to voters is “free healthcare.” Advocates frame healthcare as a human right, pointing north to Canada as the example of universal coverage.

The slogan is simple, powerful, and politically effective: Canadians enjoy free healthcare. The belief that Canadian healthcare is free stems from the fact that Canadians do not pay at the point of service. Yet the question remains: Is it truly free, and what does “free” actually mean?

OTTAWA — While Canadians like boasting of their “free health care,” a new report shows hidden tax bills related to Canada’s struggling medical system are climbing faster than household earnings.

Released this week by the Fraser Institute, the study entitled The Price of Public Health Care Insurance, 2026 shows the average Canadian family of four earning an average household income of $202,885 will spend an estimated $21,115 in health-care costs.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information has released its annual report on emergency department wait times, a litany of data that is as mind-numbing as it is depressing.

One in 10 people who head to their local ED wait more than 14 hours for care. For the sickest of the sick, those who need to be admitted to hospital, the waits are three times longer. One in 10 wait more than 48 hours, languishing on stretchers in hospital hallways. Individually, it can be much worse, like the 79-year-old man in Edmonton with severe influenza, who waited 90 hours for a bed.

CALGARY – A new report suggests the causes of Canada’s long emergency department wait times often lie far beyond the emergency room itself, with shortages in hospital beds, long-term care and community supports creating a bottleneck that is leaving some patients waiting days for care.

“This is a national problem. Every province is struggling with this,” said Dr. Paul Parks, president-elect of the Alberta Medical Association’s Section of Emergency Medicine and an emergency physician.

The report, released Thursday by the Canadian Institute for Health Information, found that one in 10 emergency department patients — about 1.5 million people — spent more than 14 hours in the emergency room in 2024-25.

“Increased population” was cited by an Alberta Doctor, not the report.

Imagine finding out that your loved one has leukemia. Then imagine finding out that the cost of treating that cancer is so enormous that you could end up drowning in debt just to pay the medical bills.

Many readers might think this is a scenario only to be found in the United States. But this is a scenario currently facing Chris Sluman and his family in North Bay, and it is all because of an obscure government agency that no one really knows about.