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Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes 

First, listen to the story with the happy ending: At 61, the executive was in excellent health. His blood pressure was a bit high, but everything else looked good, and he exercised regularly. Then he had a scare. He went for a brisk post-lunch walk on a cool winter day, and his chest began to hurt. Back inside his office, he sat down, and the pain disappeared as quickly as it had come. That night, he thought more about it: middle-aged man, high blood pressure, stressful job, chest discomfort. The next day, h

Source: When Evidence Says No, but Doctors Say Yes – The Atlantic

Ontario doctors ‘distressed’ over wave of bullying, infighting

A damaging wave of cyberbullying and intimidation is sweeping through the ranks of Ontario doctors, complete with obscene emails, threats against each other’s medical careers and refusals to take patient referrals from adversaries.

Although experts say bullying has always been a problem in medicine, in Ontario it has escalated since last summer’s failed ratification vote over a proposed deal between the government and Ontario Medical Association, which represents the province’s 34,000 doctors and medical students.

The problem has grown even harsher since the sudden decision by the OMA executive to resign en masse following a vote of non-confidence by the group’s 260-member elected council last month.

Source: Ontario doctors ‘distressed’ over wave of bullying, infighting | Toronto Star

Website falsely promises: ‘Get your passport online fast and easy within 30 seconds’

Eric Glavin paid nearly $200 for an online passport service he said misrepresents what it can do and was of no value. (Stephanie Matteis)

Central Ontario’s Better Business Bureau has received 21 complaints about the company, which is not accredited by the bureau.

The complaints and reviews are similar to Glavin’s: people found the service, thinking they were paying for passport applications or renewals, but did not receive the service they believed they purchased.

Glavin said he received a package of forms to fill out from PassportOnline.ca. (Stephanie Matteis)

read more at cbc.ca

It’s time to stop the relentless punishment of Alberta taxpayers

It’s time for the Alberta government to lift the burden on Albertans. Between punishing new taxes and a mounting debt load, the government has been putting off difficult decisions of its own and instead is making people’s lives more difficult.

The provincial government is now wasting $1 billion annually on debt interest payments. That’s money that will be handed over to the banks because the government can’t get its spending under control. Incredibly, that number will double to $2 billion per year by 2018-19.

Alberta’s $28.4-billion debt is rolling in at a rate of over $355 every second. Some proponents of increased government spending like to argue that the debt load is nothing compared to that of the monstrously high debt in Ontario (the world’s most indebted sub-national borrower) but consider that Alberta eliminated its debt as recently as 2004.

read more at business.financialpost.com

Our Healthcare System Has Some Of The Longest Wait Times In The World

It looks as though Canadians have some of the best healthcare in the world–provided they live long enough to actually see a doctor.

A new survey of 11 developed countries shows that Canada was in last place for wait times (tied with Norway) and also scored quite poorly on the availability of doctors during nights and weekends. This means that Canadians have the highest rate of emergency room usage out of the 11 countries surveyed.

As it turns out, these numbers are actually an improvement since the last time the survey was conducted.

read more at townhall.com

Healthcare Fraud in Canada: Why is it Not a Hot Topic?

This is an excellent question.  In fact, it is one we find intensely interesting because it is not quite understandable how there can be such a driven concern about this in the United States and so little here in Canada.  So we decided to take a look ourselves at the available literature and found a very concerning attitude here that “fraud” has been wiped from our healthcare vernacular.  Instead, euphemisms are used like “over-billing” and “over-utilization.”

So we decided to take a look ourselves at the available literature to see what is going on.

“Fraud” has disappeared from the healthcare vernacular

We found that the word “fraud” has been wiped from our healthcare vernacular. Instead, euphemisms are used like “over-billing” and “over-utilization” to draw attention away from potential criminal activity. Just look at a recent story we excerpted for our website from the Toronto Star on doctor billings in Ontario.

Troubling!

No federal coordination 

We also found there is no coordinated oversight in Canada relating to healthcare fraud.

White paper on healthcare fraud in Canada NOW available

So to detail our findings, we have written a white paper on the subject. If you are already a subscriber of the Monitor Telegram, you have been sent a link to a download page so you can get a copy.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, you get a free copy when you do so.  Just look for the subscription form in our  sidebar

Online survey on healthcare fraud

At the end of the paper, we have a link to an anonymous, online survey on your experience with healthcare fraud.

We look forward to publishing the results.

Your tax dollars at work

Ontario’s government, the City of Victoria and Canada Revenue Agency have won awards for wasteful government spending, as judged by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The federation has announced the annual Teddy Government Waste Award winners, handing two of the pig-shaped trophies to the Government of Ontario.

One is for the province’s electric vehicle incentive program, which the federation says provides subsidies for luxury cars, while the other is a lifetime achievement award for what the spending watchdog says is the lengthy mishandling of Ontario’s energy policy.

read more at castanet.net

How B.C.’s formerly ‘revenue neutral’ carbon tax turned into another government cash grab 

n a major announcement last year, the Trudeau government imposed a policy that will require all provinces to put a price on carbon emissions by 2018. As governments in Canada and elsewhere pursue carbon pricing, British Columbia’s carbon tax has received global praise as the gold standard.

Both the United Nations and the World Bank have declared B.C.’s “revenue neutral” carbon tax the model to follow. The OECD called it a “text book” example of how to implement carbon pricing. Commentators in Canada and the U.S have similarly hyped B.C.’s carbon tax, arguing it’s proof that governments can get carbon policy right.

Source: How B.C.’s formerly ‘revenue neutral’ carbon tax turned into another government cash grab | Financial Post