The Liberal Party in Ontario has been in power for over a decade. Most governments regardless of party get a little bit too comfy in their positions to actually govern and show up for work when called upon. In the last election, the people of Ontario rejected the far right position of austerity (many still […]
Continue readingTag: deb matthews
The Canadian Progressive: Ontario promises to cut child poverty by 25 per cent
The Ontario government’s new five year poverty reduction strategy promises to cut child poverty by 25 per cent, end homelessness. The post Ontario promises to cut child poverty by 25 per cent appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: The wake for the Health Accord was great, but what’s next?
There’s got to be a morning after. Yesterday more than 40 communities across Canada marked the end of the 10-year health accord between the provinces and the federal government. Listening to actress Shirley Douglas speak last night at one of those … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Action Plan Year 2: Progress report more politics than substance
Reflecting on two years of “progress” under Ontario’s Health Action Plan, Health Minister Deb Matthews published her list of “accomplishments” in an on-line pamphlet posted in January. After two years there’s not a lot to show. Some of the list … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: CCACs not entirely to blame for high home care administrative costs
What to do with the Community Care Access Centres? Yesterday’s Toronto Star column by Bob Hepburn suggests we should roll them into the Local Health Integration Networks and send the CCAC CEOs packing. The urge to spank the CCAC board … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Matthews promises to improve PSW compensation — but it will take time
There may soon be good news for the province’s personal support workers. “When PSWs tell me they can make more at Tim Horton’s, I sit up and take notice,” Health Minister Deb Matthews was reported to have said yesterday at … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Mental Health: New St. Thomas Forensic hospital suggests planned environment and safety linked
To be a patient here you not only have to have a mental disorder, but to have come in conflict with the law. The Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care opened in St. Thomas last year as part of … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: PSW Strike: Funding restraint for wages a blunt instrument that is harming home care
Today striking Red Cross Care Partners personal support workers are at the door step of three government ministers – Deb Matthews (Health), Yasir Naqvi (Labour) and Charles Sousa (Finance). In recent days Health Minister Deb Matthews has said she wants to let … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Something is off this December — we’re ditching the parties for placards
Something is definitely off this holiday season. Instead of being invited to the usual round of parties, we’re getting invitations to demonstrations and press conferences. Instead of decorating halls we’re decorating placards. How oblivious Health Minister Deb Matthews is to … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Harris had to stop hospital cuts after two years – what about Wynne?
When Health Minister Deb Matthews spoke at the closing of this year’s Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) HealthAchieve, the hall was two-thirds empty. Only two days before there was standing room only for Canadian astronaut Chris Hatfield. Attendance at the final morning … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Afraid of losing control — a found message from HealthAchieve
At this year’s Ontario Hospital Association HealthAchieve the organizers hired a graphic artist to illustrate many of the sessions. After each session, participants were invited to look at the graphic and leave their own comments behind using Post-it notes. Amid … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: How much longer can Ontario dance around nursing home staffing needs?
Ontario has been remarkably resistant to the idea of staffing standards in long-term care. Staffing is a major determinant of quality in long-term care – something even the most casual observer should understand. Such standards are not uncommon in other … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Still waiting for “earliest possible opportunity” to regulate patient transfer
“This is a case where the wheels are literally falling off the bus.” – Andre Marin, Toronto Star, July 16, 2013 Back in June 2011 the Ontario government promised legislation “at the earliest opportunity” to regulate the private patient transfer … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Deb – enough with the scary nonsense
It is very unlikely that Deb Matthews personally wrote the letter sent to a member of the Quinte Labour Council about local hospital funding. She did sign it, which suggests she may have actually read it. Maybe. The letter has been … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Injunction may help CCACs find more time to prepare for physiotherapy transfers
In some ways the injunction filed by the Designated Physiotherapy Clinics Association of Ontario may have been a blessing in disguise. As of August 1st OHIP funding for these private clinics was to cease, their clients transferred to the Community Care … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Kingston mental health cuts: things have changed since 1998
When Ontario last drafted a strategic plan for the delivery of comprehensive mental health services, the Mental Health Commission of Canada didn’t even exist. Today we are still implementing mental health recommendations from Ontario’s Health Restructuring Commission issued in 1998. Much … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Matthews seeks to enhance nursing home inspections – how about enough inspectors to get the job done?
For more than 30 minutes a resident of The Wexford went on a rampage, roaming the halls of the Scarborough long-term care facility, battering one woman before leaving his own floor and heading upstairs to kill another. It wasn’t the … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Ombudsman would be ideal party to resolve London’s toilet cleaning claims
Oh come on now. Attending question period at Queen’s Park can be an exercise in frustration as the opposition’s questions and the government’s answers seldom align. You can ask anything you want, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the government will … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Why health professionals increasingly don’t want to work in community agencies
The closure of eight downtown Toronto hospice beds is hardly creating buzz in the health care community. But it should. Perram House hospice is not big enough to warrant major headlines, but it is symbolic of why the government’s policies … Continue reading →
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Ontario’s nursing homes — 10 years of empty promises from Queen’s Park
Here we go again. This week news of another shocking nursing home death – this time in The Wexford, a Scarborough long term care residence. A second resident was also injured in the resident-on-resident attack. Health Minister Deb Matthews predictably told … Continue reading →
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