Newfoundland and Labrador government announces recruitment mission to Ireland to recruit physicians and nurses

The Provincial Government is leading a mission to Ireland to recruit physicians and nurses who can fill vacancies in Newfoundland and Labrador. The mission complements other national and international recruitment activities targeting health care professionals.

Ireland has been chosen as training standards for physicians are similar to Newfoundland and Labrador, and the team will be exploring recruitment opportunities for nurses who meet equivalent licensure requirements. The region was also chosen because it has a high concentration of high-quality medical and nursing schools.

#Newfoundland #Labrador #healthcare

@maplechronicles

Union prepares strike votes for 35,000 tax workers in Canada

Federal workers are launching nationwide strike votes for more than 35,000 employees at Canada Revenue Agency after talks broke down over wages and remote work.

Votes will be held from Jan. 31 to April 7, and the union will be in a legal strike position if its members approve a strike mandate, according to a joint statement from the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Union of Taxation Employees.

The strike votes will occur ahead of Canada’s April 30 tax filing deadline. They highlight the persistence of union demands for bigger pay increases even as consumer price gains begin to retreat from a four-decade high.

High inflation has historically led to increased work stoppages as employees try to catch up with prices, and unions in Canada have been ramping up their demands over the past several months. The taxation workers, for example, demanded a 30 per cent wage increase over three years.

@maplechronicles

Canada will see weakest level of homes sales this year since 2001

A new report from TD Economics predicts Canada will see the weakest level of home sales since 2001 this year.

The housing market outlook from economist Rishi Sondhi attributes the prediction to the poorest affordability level since the late 80s and early 90s.

Sondhi is forecasting that home sales will reach their bottom sometime in early 2023, after declining 20 per cent from peak to trough.

He says steep annual average price declines are expected in most of the Atlantic provinces, Ontario and B.C. in 2023, while lesser drops will materialize across the Prairies and in Newfoundland and Labrador.

@maplechronicles

🇺🇸🇺🇦 The Western countries decided it is not enough just to send money and their own military equipment to Ukraine and train Ukrainian soldiers. Canada came up with the bright idea to buy arms from the U.S. and give it to Kyiv.

I’m afraid the fed government believes a step like this would help them become at least a bit more influential but for now they are just wasting the money. Quite a sophisticated way of doing this though.

#US #Ukraine

@maplechronicles

🇨🇦A shop selling heroin and crack is set to open in Vancouver

Starting from January 31st, British Columbia will decriminalise posession of hard drugs to try to reduce overdose rates.

Customers at The Drug Store will be able to buy up to 2.5 grams of heroin, crack, and other hard drugs including methamphetamine.

The owner of the shop is Jerry Martin, former drug addict who's been clean for 15 years. His own brother died from an overdose.

If drug addicts will have free access to drugs, but it's legal, is it any less of a tragedy? This is a slippery slope.

@topicdujour

Though it’s a bit early to say for sure what CAQ energy policies will exactly look like, there are signals that they will struggle for cleaner energy sources.

For the federal government, it means that they will have to be more flexible towards the energy initiatives in the province – moreover, the most decisive steps may be argued by the province.

Anyway, the diversity of approaches is always fine. Reshuffles might be another step towards Quebec independence – at least, in some spheres.

#Quebec

@maplechronicles

Immigration minister says more newcomers needed amid mixed reviews on targets

As Canada plans to significantly ramp up its immigration levels in the coming years, some policy experts are worried about potential effects on health care, housing and the labour market.

But Immigration Minister Sean Fraser insists that Canada needs more newcomers to address labour shortages and demographic changes that threaten the country’s future.

“If we don’t continue to increase our immigration ambition and bring more working-age population and young families into this country, our questions will not be about labour shortages, generations from now,” Fraser said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

A record-breaking 431,645 people became permanent residents in 2022.

@maplechronicles

Montreal municipalities might lose their bilingual status under Quebec’s Bill 96

Bill 96 aims to strengthen and protect the French language.

According to the bill, areas, where fewer than 50 % of citizens identify English as their mother tongue, might lose bilingual status. Municipalities without that status must only communicate in French.

A total of 47 municipalities, including six in the Montreal area, were given notice by the province’s Office québécois de la langue française last December.

If these municipalities want to keep their bilingual status, they must pass a council resolution within 120 days of receiving the notice.

#Quebec

@maplechronicles

Ontario set aside funds for 2 private hospitals as part of surgery backlog strategy

As the Ford government strategized ways to cut down on the COVID-19 surgical backlog, provincial health officials set aside a small pot of public funding for private hospitals and independent heath facilities.

A Ministry of Health presentation on the province’s surgical and diagnostic recovery reveals that the Ford government planned to increase the role of two private hospitals as part journey back to pre-pandemic levels.

The document said the two private hospitals — Don Mills Surgical Unit and Clearpoint Surgical Toronto — had been given $8 million over the past two years “to achieve over 3,300 additional surgeries.” Another $5 million in public funds has been earmarked for 2,100 procedures at the private hospitals in the 2022-23 year, the slide said.

The spokesperson did not address a detailed list of questions, including the specifics of any agreements with for-profit health-care providers.

#Ontario #healthcare

@maplechronicles

A rural Nova Scotia ER is closed for a month

Residents of a rural part of the Halifax municipality are concerned after learning the emergency department at the Eastern Shore Memorial Hospital would be closed for the entire month of January.

Local resident Janice Christie is working to try to address the issue.

One of Sheet Harbour’s three family doctors has been covering most shifts, and then the community recruited several locums - fill in physicians - to cover off the rest, so that the ED was staffed at least 50 to 70 per cent of the time. However, locums are not so eager to come to Sheet Harbour, mostly due to pay issues.

“When a locum comes to be on call here, their pay rate is $77. For [another hospital], they get $152 per hour,” - Christie says.

That’s because pay is tied to how a hospital is classified by the province. And the Eastern Shore Memorial Hospital is only ranked level 4.

“Without that [pay] discrepancy being resolved we really don't have much hope of attracting locums to our facility to keep the ER open.” - says Greg Cross, another local activist.

The situation in Sheet Harbour is similar to many other communities across Nova Scotia.

@maplechronicles

Premiers urge Trudeau to tighten Canada's bail system

Canada's provincial and territorial leaders are pushing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to consider changes to Canada's bail system, especially when it comes to some firearms offences.

In a Jan. 13 letter to Trudeau, the 13 premiers said they wanted to see a specific change that would make bail harder for those accused of a charge related to the offence of possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm. They also called for a review of other firearms-related offences.

Increased calls for more stringent bail reform have been linked to the deaths of several police officers across the country in recent months.

@maplechronicles

After extreme cold weather alert, Toronto opens three warming centres on weekend

After issuing an extreme cold weather alert, Toronto opened warming centres – at Scarborough Civic Centre at 150 Borough Dr., Metro Hall at 55 John St. and Mitchell Field Community Centre at 89 Church Ave.

A spokesperson for the city said in an email that the centres would “give those who are vulnerable and may be experiencing homelessness a safe indoor and warm place to rest and access snacks, washroom facilities and referrals to emergency shelter.” The centres are open until noon the day the alert ends.

The city usually opens warming centres when Toronto issues extreme cold weather alerts. The city issues alerts when Environment Canada predicts Toronto will see temperatures dip overnight below -15 or reach a wind chill of -20 or colder. The city also issues alerts when precipitation or long stretches of freezing temperatures increase the cold weather’s impact on health.

#Toronto

@maplechronicles

🇺🇸 Canadian media: F-35 fighter jet is about serving American interests, not protecting Canada

Canadian newspapers denounces the recent claims made by Defence Minister, Anita Anand, about the F-35 fighter jet, its capabilities, and why Canada should purchase it. The fed gov’s plans to acquire new fighter jets form the U.S. which would cost $70 billions.

According to the media, “Canada does not need the F-35 to defend itself, mainly because no one is threatening us. We are not threatened, not because we have combat aircraft, but because we share a border with the United States, and it is in their interest to defend us.”

#US

@maplechronicles

🇺🇸 Michigan tries to shut down oil and natural gas pipeline from Canada

The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, which runs from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan and two Great Lakes to Sarnia, Canada, was effectively shut down by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), creating an ongoing legal battle.

Whitmer said Line 5 posed an "unreasonable risk" to the Great Lakes and ordered the company to cease operations. Under her administration, permits to allow Enbridge to create a tunnel to safely enclose Line 5 have been pending since 2020.

Enbridge, which says the pipeline brings in up to $2 million daily, has ignored Whitmer's orders and continued operations. Michigan sued to force Line 5 to shut down, and the case is currently being debated in federal court.

The government of Canada has backed Enbridge in court, invoking the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty that allows crude oil to flow between the two countries.

Michigan says that transporting oil and natural gas via trucks and railroads may be a better option, but Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said these options were "less safe, less efficient, and higher emitting."

#US

@maplechronicles

The military cadet program is wrestling with its own systemic sexual misconduct problem

Michael Blois, a partner at the Toronto personal injury law firm Diamond & Diamond, said plaintiffs have described a culture in the cadet program that includes grooming, rampant sexual harassment and innuendo, and a lack of follow-up within units and summer camps when cadets have raised sexual misconduct claims with superiors.

Blois and his colleagues filed a $300 million class action lawsuit last year. In the statement of claim, they said the federal government has failed when it comes to "systemic sexual assault, sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination" in the cadet program. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The most recent statistics DND would provide are from a 2020 military police report, which shows there were 257 "founded" incidents of sexual abuse in cadet units and camps over a four-year period from 2016 to 2019. "Founded" means law enforcement had enough evidence to substantiate that the incidents occurred.

Of the 257 incidents, military police classified 215 as sexual assaults, 19 as sexual offences against children and 23 as other sexual-related offences.

@maplechronicles

Ontario school boards struggling to implement anti-racism plans

A new report from an education watchdog group says anti-racism work is lagging in schools across the country and is being held back by a lack of data-gathering and a lack of resources to do the work.

Ontario in 2017 was the first province to pass anti-racism legislation. But while anti-racism policies have started to show up at publicly funded school boards across Ontario, the new report from People for Education says there are “significant inconsistencies in the execution of these strategies.”

People for Education scanned the websites of all 72 publicly-funded school boards, looking for information about whether they had conducted a census for students and staff and whether they had an anti-racism strategy and/or included anti-racism language in their equity policies.

The report made three key recommendations. They include acknowledging the problem, viewing data collection as the start of a process rather than an end-goal, and involving entire school communities, but especially groups historically impacted by discrimination.

#Ontario

@maplechronicles

🇺🇦 Canada says it has no plans to transfer Leopard tanks to Kiev

Canada is ready to consider all requests from Ukraine concerning the supply of new weapons, but the issue of deploying Leopard 2 tanks to Kiev has not yet been discussed. This statement was made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a visit to the province of Saskatchewan.

Trudeau recalled that Canada has already sent a large amount of military equipment to Ukraine.

@maplechronicles

Bank of Canada’s business and consumer surveys show signs of a weakening economy

With high inflation and rising interest rates taking a bite out of paycheques, the Bank of Canada says businesses expect sales to slow as consumers pull back on spending.

The central bank released its fourth-quarter business outlook and consumer expectations surveys, revealing most businesses and consumers expect a recession in the next 12 months.

As business confidence weakens, more firms are reporting they’re concerned about demand and credit. Meanwhile, they say cost pressures, labour shortages and supply chain issues are easing.

On the consumer side, Canadians facing high inflation and rising interest rates say they’re cutting back on spending as they spend a larger share of their budgets on necessities.

@maplechronicles

Canada’s new alcohol guidelines advise fewer drinks

Canada’s new guidelines on alcohol and health have arrived, with the following advice: any reduction in drinking helps.

The guidelines, released Tuesday by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, or CCSA, present a continuum of health risks associated with different amounts of alcohol, including the risks of several types of cancer, such as breast and colon cancer, heart disease and stroke.

The guidelines, funded by Health Canada, replace Canada’s Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines, which the CCSA released in 2011, and advise drinking substantially lower amounts. The previous guidelines recommended no more than 10 drinks a week for women and 15 drinks a week for men. Under the new guidelines, updated by a scientific expert panel to reflect the latest research, three to six drinks a week is considered moderate risk for both men and women, and seven or more drinks a week is deemed high risk.

@maplechronicles

Average Canadian house price fell 12% last year

The average price of a Canadian home that sold in December was $626,318, a decline of more than 12 per cent from where it was the same month a year ago.

Sales fell by more than 39 per cent from December 2021's level. And prices were also well down from an average of $713,500 at the end of 2021, and a peak of $816,720 reached in February 2022, before the Bank of Canada started aggressively raising lending rates.

Rishi Sondhi, an economist with TD Bank, says that while it's clear that Canada's housing market has cooled significantly from its red-hot status earlier in the pandemic, the numbers for December "signal that a bottom in the housing market may be forming."

@maplechronicles

Expansion of private clinic procedures will affect hospital nurse bargaining

The union representing Ontario hospital nurses says the province’s intention to expand procedures at private clinics means hospitals will have to do more in upcoming contract negotiations to entice professionals to stay.

Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that the province will fund more procedures such as cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans and hip and knee surgeries in the community in order to reduce wait lists and ease the pressures on hospitals.

Amid concerns raised by critics is a worry that hospitals will see further staffing crunches if workers such as nurses choose to work at clinics offering weekday, 9-5 shifts, instead of the overnight and weekend work that happens in hospitals.

It looks like the fed government is doing their best to bury the health service. Canada is already experiencing problems with medical stuff and has to invite migrants to fill positions in hospitals; having that in mind, the problem might become disastrous in the nearest future.

#Ontario

@maplechronicles