By Stephen Skyvington There is a great short story by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., titled 2 B R 0 2 B. Published in 1962, the story revolves around a man named Edward K. Wehling, Jr., whose wife is about to give…
Our alarming infrastructure deficit
From Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway to Hamilton’s sidewalks and roads, the bills are mounting By Stephen Skyvington @SSkyvington Here’s a little quiz for you: When did the first bits of concrete fall from the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway? How big…
MDs in No Mood to Roll Over
Could we soon see another doctor strike in Ontario? By Stephen Skyvington Today, I want to share a little history with you, as a way of preparing citizens, voters, taxpayers and patients for what’s about to happen in the next…
Canada’s healthcare system: dead on arrival
Here’s a book that’ll raise your blood pressure for sure. Quite simply the best book ever written about Canada’s healthcare system, Jeffrey Simpson’s brilliant Chronic Condition: Why Canada’s Health-Care System Needs to be Dragged into the 21st Century infuriates as…
Health minister must fund it or free it
Back in the late ’90s, when I was the manager of government relations for the Ontario Medical Association, we had an expression those of us who wanted to see a parallel private health-care system liked to toss around. Especially when…
It’s time to grow up about health care
We need to have an adult conversation about health care. I know you’ve heard that before, but it’s true. The health care “doomsday clock” is ticking and we don’t have the luxury to put this off any longer. In order…
A revolution brewing among Ontario’s doctors
By Stephen Skyvington Stockholm syndrome: A psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger…
Ontario doctors not in a forgiving mood as their association shows signs of having botched the latest round of negotiations
By Stephen Skyvington I remember it as if it were yesterday: Nov. 29, 1995. The infamous Bill 26, the Savings and Restructuring Act, had just been introduced in the Ontario legislature by then-finance minister Ernie Eves. Buried among its four…
Some health-care myths debunked
It’s not a system, it’s not free, it’s not one tier and leaving it alone is the worst thing we can do By Stephen Skyvington I’ve been intimately involved in health care since the spring of 1995, when I first…