Health and Wellness – QP Briefing

Liberals not ready to set the price of legal weed just yet

The finance minister is walking back media reports that said he was eyeing $10 a gram. ...

Bill to ban pill presses passes second reading as opioid debate gets political

Tory MPP criticizes health minister for having called his bill "over-simplistic." ...

Province ratchets up drug-impaired driving penalties

Young and commercial drivers can't get behind the wheel with even trace amounts, while sanctions for all drugged drivers get stricter. ...

Heard: Premier talks NAFTA, health care in U.S. lecture

The premier also told the audience about her government's recent domestic priorities, including increasing the minimum wage and preparing to give free prescription drugs to all Ontarians under age 25. ...

NDP calls for a ministry of mental health and addictions

The New Democrats introduce a private member's bill to create a ministry so that mental health is no longer "an afterthought," party leader Andrea Horwath says ...

Horwath warns ‘big, big trouble’ is brewing in Ontario hospital care

The NDP Leader attacked the Liberals and previous Tory regimes for over 'meagre' measures to fund health care and reduce hospital wait times. ...

Pot on the front burner as the legislature resumes

Opposition slams legalized marijuana plan as "distraction technique" and “political cover” for Grits' legal troubles. ...

Province to roll out 40 stand-alone pot shops next year

Pot and booze will not be sold at the same location, although the LCBO will oversee the reefer rollout. ...

New figures show spike in opioid deaths, government promises $222M in new funding

The funding will be spent over three years and go toward ...

Wynne commits to ‘significant additional resources’ to combat opioid overdose crisis

But the premier stopped short of declaring a state of emergency over opioid overdoses Monday. ...

Health-care workers call for declaration of state of emergency over opioid overdoses in Ontario

The request is in an open letter that organizers plan to deliver at Queen's Park on Monday. ...

Happening: NDP MPP calls for province to block graphic anti-abortion images

Four politicians are requesting the province get an injunction to block the images of "chopped up fetuses." ...

Sponsored Content: Uterine Fibroids Survey

Union calls for reforms after alleged assaults at psychiatric hospital

"No worker should have to face this level and frequency of violence in their workplace," OPSEU's president says in wake of the report of another violent incident at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguish ...

Ontario launches new online health care wait times tool

Ontario is offering more health-care information online. ...

Happening: Horwath embarks on mini health-care tour in the dog days of summer

How the NDP leader is spending her summer. ...

Happening: Abortion pill will be free in Ontario, but questions of access remain

The government will cover the cost of Mifegymiso as of Aug. 11. ...

Judge appointed to investigate Wettlaufer nursing home murders, report due in 2019

Justice Eileen Gillese was one of three Ontario Court of Appeal judges who ruled in landmark 2003 decision that legalized same-sex marriage in Ontario. ...

Heard: Public education campaign needed for legal pot, health minister says

Physicians have warned that marijuana use can be harmful to young people's developing brains. ...

Teen’s death sparked stem-cell transplant funding, minister says

Laura Hillier endured five rounds of chemotherapy before she died while waiting for a stem cell transplant, her mother said. ...

OMA board directors launch complaints against its own members, doctors say

Turmoil within physicians' association continues amidst accusations of bullying on one side and misconduct on the other. ...

Provincial advocate urges swift action on blueprint to reform residential care

Irwin Elman says the government now needs to prove it doesn't view children as "storage to be dumped out at 18." ...

Booze-like rules for legalized marijuana ‘makes sense,’ Wynne says

Wynne’s government announced Wednesday that it was looking for public feedback on the federal government’s plan to legalize marijuana by July 2018. ...

Ontario government wants to talk pot

The province wants “to hear from the people of Ontario as we develop an approach to legalization that keeps our youth, communities and roads safe," Attorney General Yasir Naqvi says. ...

Health-care regulations leave francophones in the dark, advocates say

Groups backing home care for Franco-Ontarians say proposed amendments still don't ensure French service. ...

Head of OMA defends group after resignations and accusation of a ‘toxic climate’

Dr. Shawn Whatley says he welcomes diverse viewpoints after leaders of OMA's two biggest districts quit in protest over alleged "bullying and intimidation." ...

About 1,800 complaints made to Ontario’s patient ombudsman in first year

Health-care watchdog Christine Elliott will release her first annual report this fall. ...

NDP wants serial-killer nurse inquiry expanded to ‘systemic problems’ in long-term care

The Liberals are currently searching for a commissioner to lead an independent inquiry into the Elizabeth Wettlaufer case. ...

Cabinet searching for commissioner to lead Wettlaufer inquiry

Cabinet to vet the commissioner and the scope of inquiry, with the attorney general doing much of the leg work. ...

Happening: A public inquiry into Elizabeth Wettlaufer case

The government is "actively engaged in finalizing" an order in council that will appoint a commissioner and set out the scope of the inquiry, which will be made public once approved. ...

Province’s pot plan won’t be ready for at least a month

Premier says tax model for regulated marijuana market still being discussed, following finance ministers' meeting and amid countdown to July 2018 legalization. ...

Privacy commissioner demands revamped health-care laws for digital age

Brian Beamish says the government must break out of its “silos” to enhance transparency and tighten privacy – especially in health care. ...

Doctors will be back at negotiating table by Sept. 1

Deadline to kick-start talks following binding arbitration vote and ongoing consultations with doctors by OMA. ...

Ontario gets cash for daycare – but critics say the system is still ‘broken’

Ottawa will give Queen's Park $435 million over three years for child care and early learning, the first in a slew of bilateral daycare deals with the feds. ...

Moral questions up in the air as assisted dying case wraps up

When does doctors' religious freedom start to harm patients? ...

Heard: Co-ordinated care service up and running

A new co-ordinated care service for patients seeking medical assistance in dying is up and running, providing an avenue around doctors whose moral beliefs clash with provincial policy on euthanasia. ...

Oversight body fights back against challenge to assisted-dying rules

Lawyers for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario told Superior Court that its policy of “effective referral” to a non-objecting doctor balances practitioners’ religious freedoms with their “duty to provide ...

Ontario Health Coalition report slams creeping private health care

The report warned of an encroaching “two-tier” system of health care where private clinics across the country charge patients out of pocket for tests and procedures already funded by taxpayers. ...

Top doc says OMA has ‘no policy’ on private health care after survey stirs up concerns

A survey sent to thousands of doctors challenges the province's all-holy health-care axioms. ...

Heard: Legislature passes patient protection law

The new bill also requires parents to complete an education session before they can exempt their children from mandatory immunizations for non-medical reasons. ...

Liberals to table law creating ‘safe access zones’ around abortion clinics

The new rules would trace the path of “bubble zone” legislation rolled out in British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador. ...

Patient protection law poised to pass after tweaks to sexual abuse language

The legal wrangling during committee underscored tensions in the balance between a doctor’s right to practice and patients’ right to protection from sexual abuse. ...

MPPs reject bill to enshrine conscience rights in assisted dying law

The demand came hours before a vote on a second reading of Bill 129, a Progressive Conservative private member’s bill that seeks to make clear that participation in the assisted-dying process is voluntary for all health ...

Doctors and province strike tentative deal on binding arbitration

The agreement must still be approved by the OMA’s membership. ...

‘We won’t have to wait much longer,’ for deal with docs on binding arbitration, health minister says

A deal would pave the way to restart negotiations on a contract for physicians, who have gone four years without one. ...

Medically assisted dying bill passes third reading

Liberals and NDP in support of the legislation while the Progressive Conservatives opposed it out of concern for “conscience rights” for caregivers. ...

Tories table bill to enshrine ‘conscience rights’ in assisted-dying law

Health Minister Eric Hoskins accused the PCs of voting down amendments twice that would “reinforce and reiterate, as the federal legislation did, conscience rights for health care providers.” ...

Ontario Liberals to use pharmacare plan to push other provinces for national solution

Health Minister Eric Hoskins says using the new pharmacare plan for young people to influence other provinces is a "very good comparison" to what was done with the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan. ...