Celebrating Jim Flaherty
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Jim’s untimely death five years ago today shocked many in Canada. For those of us who worked with and for him as a politician, we knew a person of unparalleled intelligence and ethics. We also knew him as a person of extraordinary grace!
For those of us who knew him well from Whitby, we were all so very anxious to see how well he performed while in politics and most especially for what he would do in life after politics. That’s why it’s so hard to comprehend a life so large cut so short.
I recall when I was a hospital administrator in Whitby and going through a particularly difficult time in 1997 because of a government mandated restructuring. The town was in a foul mood over the prospect of potentially losing its acute care services at the hospital. Jim came to my office and sat in the one chair I had for visitors and folded his arms, “Kealey”, he said, “hold fast! What you’re going through is the scourge of leadership. If you can’t handle this, you should get out! But I think you can handle this!” That advice has stuck with me throughout my career and I heed it often. Life can be difficult at times, but when the world has the benefit of advice like that from Jim Flaherty it makes things that are tough seem possible – and it’s simply a better place!
I had the opportunity in 2011 to host Jim for a fundraiser at my home in Mississauga. It was an interesting start to the evening because some trouble-making people in Mississauga had alerted media that the Minister of Finance was coming to my home and they assembled at the end of my driveway. When his car drove up, he stepped out, greeted them warmly and invited them into my home. As if knowing that they were intruding, they politely declined. Vintage Jim Flaherty – he was simply a better man!
Responding to Bullying – A Perspective
In recognition of Pink Shirt Day – here is my perspective on anti-bullying that I co-authored in 2016. Sadly not much has happened in the way of any government legislation or regulation against bullying since then.
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TVO: The Agenda with Steve Paikin
The Agenda: June 4, 2018
The Ontario Liberal Party has been in power at Queen’s Park for 15 years and Kathleen Wynne has been the premier for last 5, until now. Over the weekend, just days before the election, Wynne gave a concession speech and encouraged voters to elect either a PC or NDP minority government. The Agenda welcomes Kathleen Wynne to discuss that decision and why voters should still consider the Liberal platform.
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Premier Wynne Admits Defeat
The Agenda: June 4, 2018
This weekend, Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne, stepping ahead of her abysmal poll numbers, admitted defeat in Ontario’s 42nd general election. Wynne said that she would not be leading the province once the votes were tallied, but that party supporters should remain steadfast to prevent a PC or NDP majority government.
The Agenda gathers a panel to discuss what this surprise announcement means for an election only days away and the future of the Ontario Liberal Party.
CP24: Liberals will hold more seats than expected
will do better next week than anyone thinks

source: CP24 News
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CP24: Emotions drive vote

source: CP24 News
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Surprise Looks Into Bringing Canadian Health Care Facility For Snowbirds
The Co-Chairs of the Canada-Surprise, Arizona Cross-Border Healthcare Task Force hosted a panel presentation and discussion on the topic of Expanding Canadian Healthcare in the USA: A New Frontier in Arizona
By Casey Kuhn
Senior Field Correspondent
91.5 KJZZ
They say the leaves don’t change here — but the license plates do. ‘Tis the season for snowbirds traveling south to Arizona. One city is looking to bring health care that is targeted especially for those coming from our northern border neighbor.
Canadian health care leaders are in the Valley this week with Surprise officials discussing how to bring Canadian medical services to the area.
Jeanine Jerkovic is Surprise’s economic development director and helped spearhead the program.
“When you’re a city called Surprise, you know you have to be interesting,” Jerkovic said. “We like to welcome new people, we like to pilot new things, we’re a very young community.”
The idea is to set up a place in Surprise where Canadian doctors can practice and the snowbirds can get medical services and rehabilitation in a warm place.
Marc Kealey is a Canadian advocate of health reform and says the wait times in Canada for orthopedic surgery are long.
“This is a valve release,” Kealey said. “If we looked at this and said right now the wait times in Canada for hips and knees are anywhere from twelve to eighteen months. That’s unconscionable.”
There are about 20,000 Canadian-owned housing units in the Valley, and many are being occupied now as winter arrives and snowbirds migrate.
Canadian lawyer Chris MacLeod said it’s a good opportunity.
“The genius of what Surprise has done is create or at least capture a real opportunity that exists to deliver Canadian health care to Canadians in a climate and community that is welcoming and endearing,” said MacLeod.
A feasibility study is still being conducted to figure out the cost of bringing Canadian doctors to Surprise.
Original article: KJZZ.org
Surprise, Arizona could become destination for Canadian orthopedic surgeries
By Richard Smith
Independent Newsmedia
Canadians already flock to the Valley of the Sun — and the Northwest Valley in particular — in droves every winter.
Arizona is home to more than 350 Canadian companies and more than 1.1 million Canadians visit our state annually, according to the Canada Arizona Business Council. While many are here on vacation, some Canadians could get work done if an ambitious venture from Surprise and a Canadian healtchcare leader comes to fruition.
“There are so many Canadians that visit and invest in the market,” said Surprise Economic Development Director Jeanine Jerkovic, a former a trade commissioner for the Canadian Consulate in Phoenix.
During the June 20 City Council work session Ms. Jerkovic and Marc Kealey, CEO of Kealey & Associates in Toronto, presented the possibility of a new Canadian medical service center in Surprise aimed at patients who desire Canadian medical standards without the long wait times for services.
Mr. Kealey said a increasing percentage of the Canadian population is age 65 or older, and a decent amount of this aging population already spends a considerable amount of time in the United States — with Arizona a top destination.
Healthcare in Canada is publically (i.e. government) funded but privately delivered. Mr. Kealey said it is not free for consumers, a common misconception, but costs are generally manageable.
However, this model affects how often physicians can work and the availability of some types of medical procedures. For example, Mr. Kealey said, in many parts of Canada, orthopedic surgeons can only work one day a week, since it is too expensive to keep their facilities open four or five days a week.
“There are people that are in Canada who are waiting up to 18 months to get a (new) hip or knee,” Mr. Kealey said.
In the province of Ontario alone, he said, 30,000 residents are waiting for these replacements. Mr. Kealey has spent three decades in healthcare and said the wait times have been an issue at least 25 of those years.
Plus, Canada’s harsh winters wipe out a good chunk of the year for post-operation rehabilitation.
“It is really stupid to do a hip or knee (replacement) in Canada in February,” Mr. Kealey said.
Kealey & Associates is an advocacy and strategy implementation firm in Canada specializing in healthcare and drug reform.
He said a lot of people have tried to operate private clinics in upstate New York, Florida and on the West Coast.
For years, Mr. Kealey searched for a place to do something a bit different. Surprise became the choice, he said, because of its assertive nature and willingness to think outside the box.
In February, Mayor Sharon Wolcott appointed Ms. Jerkovic and Mr. Kealey as co-chairs for a cross-border taskforce to research and identify ways in which Surprise can support expanded healthcare services to Canadians who visit or reside in the area.
Councilman John Williams lived in New York before Surprise and is familiar with the Canadian health system.
“I love the concept. We’re serving the greater good. The wait times have been going on for a long time,” he said.
While the big-picture concept is sound, the rest of this year is likely to be spent seeing if details can be worked out. Roundtables are scheduled for Toronto later this summer and Surprise in the fall.
A decision should come in the winter and, if favorable, the program could start in 2018.
Surgeries are more likely in winter, early spring or late fall, followed by a rehabilitation stint here.
“One of the things we’ve landed on is the notion that there is infrastructure here already. The infrastructure here is complementary to what we want to do,” Mr. Kealey said. “As a concrete example, we know that if you can’t get a hip or knee (replacement) in Canada for 18 months and there is an option to do that here, we’ll market that to patients. We looked at things like once a patient is here, how long would they need to be here. When you look at opportunities for post-op, there’s an existing infrastructure in tele-medicine that could link from Surprise, Arizona to that patient’s physician back home, even before the surgery.”
In particular, he is talking about MD24, the Surprise-based tele-medicince company that grew from Surprise’s incubator. That kind of medical integration is exciting, Mr. Kealey said, and a hallmark of the Canadian system.
Second issue is to formalize the feasibility of providing the service here. Costs, providers and facilities would have to be consistent with those in Canada.
Mr. Kealey said the extra cost to patients — and earnings potential for Surprise — would be travel related.
Employment for local workers would come from the ancillary medical jobs, such as nurses, personal suppork workers and nurse practicioners.
“There are issues with having Canadian physicians credentialed to actually practice here. Obviously we’re looking at Canadian phisicians concentrating on Canadian patients who would be here. We’ve got to make sure the regulatory issue is handled,” Mr. Kealey said. “We’ve done the econo-metrics on this. We know our fee structure in Canada, so we want to have the fee srtucture from Canada actually imposed down here. The analogy would be almost a consular service for health care — walking into a Canadian clinic, as it were. There’s a Canadian flag flying outside, the physicians doing work are to Canadian standards and are Canadian physicians and the fee structure is the Canadian system.”
Photo credit: Jacob Stanek
Original article: YourWestValley.com
Canadian Healthcare: Resource Crunch
“The resources crunch is coming in Canadian healthcare,
and tough choices must be made.“
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Regulator Watch: Impact of Canada’s New Vaping Regulations
Source: RegulatorWatch.com
Tallying the Score – Impact of Canada’s New Vaping Regulations, Part 2
Source: RegulatorWatch.com