Policy Papers

Knowledge is power and in terms of health care data it could be the power to save lives. Yet regardless of the mountains of information collected in Canadian health care establishments, at a cost of millions per year, little is ever used effectively. This latest background paper from the Canadian Health Care Consensus group examines what could be done.

Written by three experienced educators – Michael C. Zwaagstra, Rodney A. Clifton and John C. Long – this paper reviews the origins of teachers’ unions and how they moved from labour relations to education policy. It concludes that we all have failed to defend the public interest in education, and suggests what we can do to take back public education.

The Bangor-Saint John Trade & Growth Corridor represents a vital link in the emerging Atlantica economic zone. The Economic Assets Map is meant to profile the corridor and the potential business opportunities it may provide.

This study evaluates the fiscal year 2006/07 provincial finances for Western Canada and Ontario, using a standardized grading system developed by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS). With this approach, AIMS has evaluated the finances of the Atlantic provinces in three previous studies. Part of the grading methodology involves a retrospective assessment of budget forecast accuracy; this is why this paper assesses budgets for fiscal year 2006/07 that were delivered in the spring of 2006

Do Canadians value form over function? In suggesting that governments should be considering expanded opportunities for private delivery of health care in Canada, the Canadian Medical Association has been accused of putting profit for doctors ahead of Canadian values. In Form over Function, the latest commentary from the Canadian Health Care Consensus Group, author Brian Ferguson Ph.D. explores the debate about Medicare in Canada and concludes that we need to take a step back and consider not only what Canadians really do value, but also what, exactly, is being proposed

Taking the Pulse, a newly released paper by the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), examines indicators used as tools to measure, compare and improve the quality of care in hospitals. It is a growing practice in the health care field to collect and sometimes report performance data on how a hospital provides care to its patients.

The Port of Halifax could see a 25 per cent increase in traffic with a more targeted transload strategy, which is about 132,000 more TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) per year, or roughly 66,000 more containers. In this third paper of the AIMS Atlantica Ports Series, authors Jim Frost and Stephen Kymlicka examine what needs to be done to grow port traffic by increasing transload facilities.

The interim report of the CanAm Connections project was released in July of 2006. The next report is expected in the Spring of 2008.

The benefits derived from the Port of Halifax are spread much further a field than other container ports. That’s the finding of this paper, the second in the Atlantica Ports Series.

This background paper takes a look at how specialty hospitals could help reduce waiting times in the Canadian health care system. It is one of a series of papers prepared by the Canadian Health Care Consensus Group to contribute to the discussion of health care reform in Canada.