“today’s AI is fundamentally untrustworthy, for the same reasons that search engines and social media platforms are. The problem is not the technology itself... The problem is the priorities of the corporations who own these platforms and for whose benefit they are operated”

A couple of things about this: 1) Alberta ran a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to lure newcomers. This isn't some Laurentian conspiracy.

#BCpoli budget takeaway: the rising cost of increased MD pay MSP spending (mainly MDs) up 9.3% in 2026-27, outpaces regional health services at 2.5% Budget highlights the significant pressure of MD compensation At the same time, non-physician health care workers have had to (threaten) strikes

Let me get this straight: I’m riding a bike with 2.5 foot wide child trailer at walking pace, you're driving an suv across the lane divider, and somehow I hit your car? Need advice, cuz I genuinely don't know how to respond to this. It's like we're living in different realities. #biketo #cycling

A Guardian article discussing a study on mortality in Gaza we published last night which you can find here: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Published today in @lancetgh.bsky.social: New primary estimates of the death toll in Gaza conducted via a household survey approximate mortality totals 34.7% above Gaza Ministry of Health figures, from the start of the conflict in Gaza up to Jan 2025: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The wealthiest 1% of families in Canada owned 22.7% of wealth in 2023, up from 19.3% in 1999, seeing a total increase of $3 trillion over that period. Find our new report modelling of extreme wealth inequality from @c4tf.bsky.social and @bcpolicy.bsky.social: bcpolicy.ca/2026/02/11/tax-the-rich/

Toronto is covered with road salt right now, which will eventually end up in the city's waterways, where it disrupts ecosystems. To get an idea of how much we're talking, I got salt figures from the city going back to the 80s: nearly 5 million tonnes. For @nationalobserver.com

ERs do not need more visits because refugees have had their health benefits cut. Restore IFH funding. @davidmaccdn.bsky.social 'estimated that any savings would likely just be downloaded “to a different budget line” because of increased emergency visits' ED visit $300+ / hospital stay $7000-8000

“Delayed access to care will cost the health-care system even more, she noted. For instance, someone with hypertension who can’t afford their medication may end up suffering a stroke, admitted to emergency, hospitalized and requiring rehab” Dr. Vanessa Redditt speaking to @nicholaskeung.bsky.social

Yesterday FOM's Chris Gallaway called on Alberta MPs & the federal Health Minister to speak out against the Alberta government's Bill 11 & enforce the Canada Health Act to protect our public health care. Bill 11 is an unequivocal threat to the very foundation of our Medicare. We need action now!

ICE has established outposts in 5 Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Ottawa. Experts say the offices are not authorized to carry out independent investigations or carry out immigration enforcement. www.thestar.com/news/gta/ice...

Is Alberta really bringing in European style health care? @alonghurst.bsky.social busts myths and explains why this is just window dressing for US-style for-profit privatization of the public health care system.

What do income inequality & healthcare funding have to do each other? My latest, for the @hilltimes.com: www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/0...

“Imagine being told that your stethoscope makes you a threat to public safety … When even bandaids (sic) are weaponized against the Palestinians, is it really even a ceasefire?” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

New from @srinmurthy.bsky.social and me.👇

We spoke with @royinori.bsky.social and @thelocal.to about growing marketplace of online DTC virtual care platforms for lifestyle drugs. Check it out! thelocal.to/online-pharm...

Ontario's corporate pharmacies, like Shoppers Drug Mart, have faced allegations of overworking their pharmacists and setting high targets for medically unnecessary tasks to bolster profits. The resulting burnout, @kunalchaudhary.bsky.social writes, is an impending crisis. thelocal.to/shoppers-dru...

For @thelocal.to i wrote about dermatologists upselling their patients. It’s a trend that critics warn is creating a two-tier system for dermatological care, and may foreshadow what’s to come in Ontario’s health care system more broadly: thelocal.to/dermatology-...

Carney raised expectations of a well-being economy. His budget told a different story canadahealthwatch.ca/2026/02/04/c... @dlsphjournalism.bsky.social

MSF denounces restrictions on humanitarian access imposed by #SouthSudan's government in parts of Jonglei state. These restrictions block medical aid from reaching communities. As of Jan. 29, at least 23 critically ill patients urgently need referrals. www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/south-sudan-...

I'll be joining. US companies are looking at Canada's health care system with great interest.

BC's new payment model for family doctors increased pay and drew more doctors to the province. But there's one problem—access to family doctors has actually declined. By @alonghurst.bsky.social @policyalternatives.ca www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Alberta is on the verge of #healthcare changes that could hurt all of us. Doctors "will be incentivized to spend more of their time treating lucrative private-pay patients. Alberta’s plan does not shorten any wait-lists — it rearranges them by placing those with deeper wallets at the top" #cdnpoli

Huge sources of unaffordability: fossil fuel extraction, pollution, and climate change. "Globally, fossil-fuel subsidies totalled US$7 trillion or 7.1 per cent of GDP in 2022, reflecting a US$2 trillion increase since 2020" www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

As #virtualcare becomes increasingly embedded in health systems, our lit review attempts to map the evidence on private sector ownership and control of virtual care platforms. Bottom line: evidence gaps on quality, privacy, and health system impact Project led by Sheryl Spithoff, in @bmj.com Open

breachmedia.ca/as-a-doctor-... ‘The cuts to this program are not happening within a vacuum. They are taking place in a broader context of heightened anti-immigration rhetoric and policies like Bill C-12 that will make it easier for people to lose their status and be deported.’

What to know about Alberta's Bill 11, which threatens public health care in Canada. Report by @alonghurst.bsky.social www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

New report from me + @poliscirish.bsky.social Bill 11 brings US-style two-tier health care system with a private health insurance market for care covered under the Canada Health Act It appears that the insurance industry ITSELF has shaped the legislation www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

@thelocal.to's Cost of Care issue, publishing through last month and this one, offers deep-dives on the intersection of profit and health care. The shared theme of many of these stories is the modern question of a patient as a customer, or a consumer. The issue so far: thelocal.to/winter-2026/

We spent more than a year tracking the killings and suspicious deaths of women and girls in Canada. Here’s what we found. www.youtube.com/shorts/Hw9IU... Read more: lnkd.in/ehHqnHrA

‘“No taxpayer wants to say I put this dollar in the health-care bucket and it ended up in the CEO of some financial institution’s pocket,” said Alex Hoagland, assistant professor of health economics at the University of Toronto’

This is classic scapegoating — blaming refugees for a healthcare crisis caused by decades of underfunding and privatization. 
 These charges are cruel and punitive. We won’t fix a broken system by putting up new barriers for people who are already struggling.

Libs gonna lib. Tax credits will not fix the affordability crisis.

yet another example from @desmog.com of how fossil asset owners fixate on "managing tons" thru carbon accounting to distract from the REAL problem: burning fossil fuels. I write about why managing tons is doomed to fail extensively in my new book Existential Politics (link in bio).

It's #ReclaimTheEconomyWeek! Around the world, people are coming together to demand an economy that puts people and planet first - and showing how it's already being done. Sign the petition calling on leaders to redesign our economies to put people and planet at the centre: vist.ly/4p5xr

Trade policy isn’t abstract when it affects access to medicine. Steven Staples, CHC's National Director of Policy and Advocacy explains how tariffs could drive shortages, higher costs, and added pressure on Canada’s health-care system.

Not only could this cause avoidable health problems, but the Canadian government is forcing the wrong people to make sacrifices

Stroller was a bad idea today. Good thing I had a bulldozer ready.

So the profits of the Canadian grocery monopoly remain intact, publicly funded even? This is much like the food donation bins just past check out, graciously put out by grocery concerns, allowing consumers to buy from them then donate.

Sunday, January 25, 2026, 9:05 pm. Built for winter. ❄️ Built for Canada. 🇨🇦

Agreed - part of the affordability crisis driving homelessness is totally inadequate social assistance that hasn't kept pace with cost of living. I just updated my slides on #poverty in #Ontario. Here's what individuals and families have left over at the end of each month. For many, it's DEBT

The phrase “Amid immigration crackdown” should be killed. That’s obviously not what this is.

“Affordability is the number one reason why people become homeless. It’s not mental health. It’s not addiction” @dianachanmcnally.bsky.social www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #onpoli

Best way to get around this evening. Hope folks are safe and warming centres have extra capacity tonight.

Canada’s biggest grocery giants — including Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro — are using property law to control how other grocery stores, dollar stores, pharmacies and gas stations can compete with them, an investigation by CBC’s Marketplace has found. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

I've reached out to all Canadian companies listed here to ask if they intend to continue working with ICE: Hootsuite Roshel Garda Jim Pattison Developments I've also reached out to @anitaoakvilleeast.bsky.social's team for comment on export permits for Canadian sale of armoured vehicles to ICE.

This is a well written piece on uninsured patients in Ontario, but I have to push back on the conclusion: it's not the case that the sustainability of our health care system depends the tiny fraction of uninsured patients that cannot afford care - there are much larger drivers of avoidable costs.

Launching our "Cost of Care" issue @thelocal.to today, about the places where money and medicine collide. Here's @alisonmotluk.bsky.social writing the best, clearest thing I've seen on what a routine surgery says about the possible future of care. thelocal.to/cataract-sur...

The rise in under-qualified hires at childcare centres has shot up more than 1000% in 5 years. Rather than addressing the ECE shortage by improving wages and working conditions, the Ontario government is choosing to "paper over the crisis," advocates say. My latest: thelocal.to/ontarios-day...