We’re still far from solving the problem of the pervasive pandemic that has overturned aspects of our lives in ways we never imagined. It has made a mockery of everything we thought we had some control over, from our mental stability to our monetary security. After months of lockdown limitations, we’re no closer to the…
The pendulum of public attention is beginning to swing from getting through the pandemic to economic recovery. But recovery is not a simple process. Governments and health authorities are planning or actually beginning to implement the gradual and much-awaited loosening of lockdown restrictions. COVID-19 is nowhere near being vanquished and it will still be a…
For too long, Canada has failed to embrace many foreign-trained physicians. COVID-19 has exposed serious flaws in the system
A corner has been turned in the COVID-19 pandemic, even if serious questions linger. Although we still don’t know how long the pandemic will last, we’re beginning to see more ideas on what the world will look like once we’ve put this behind us. When that will be or how we will get there is…
The economy will bounce back, even if some businesses don’t. But don’t expect a rapid recovery after COVID-19 recedes
What will happen to the economy once we get through this pandemic? We’re coping day to day with social isolation and, for those of us lucky enough to still have work, the challenges of working from home or being out there in an infected world. First, we want to know when all this will end.…
We need leaders who are smart, recognize people’s needs and do something positive to meet them
News about the COVID-19 virus has gone viral. Media coverage, ever-changing and often contradictory, screams at us from all directions. It inundates us as we work from home, self-isolate or have isolation thrust upon us. At times like this, we would do well to remember that life continues beyond the pandemic, even if the current…
Want to strike fear into the heart of any Canadian? Just mention wait times. We’re all really proud of our universal, single-payer medicare system, especially when we compare it to the situation in the United States. However, it’s not quite perfect. A major imperfection is the length of time between becoming aware of a need…
The old order has passed – the one where parents and grandparents could teach their offspring everything they needed to know. Now, there’s no need to teach the kids even the basic three Rs of reading, ’riting and ’rithmatic. Most have learned to read (if not spell) by themselves as they start texting each other…
Though any deaths from a fast-spreading new disease can be frightening, panic isn’t justified. Most cases are mild and of short duration
I led a trade delegation in Guangdong, China, in December 2002. Business and life carried on as usual even though a new disease, SARS, had begun infecting and killing people in the province a month earlier. As visiting Canadians, we weren’t worried at all because we knew absolutely nothing about the epidemic and had never…
The world is changing very quickly and most of us can’t keep up. Jobs that always were there (think taxi drivers) are fast disappearing. Pre-digital teachers, parents and grandparents are learning from children rather than teaching them. Ideas we’ve long held are no longer valid. Take university for example. We can look at going to…
There's not an economic model or crystal ball that can give us a clear and reliable picture of what lies ahead in 2020. No forecast, no matter how thorough and well thought through, can foresee or take into account all the wild cards that chance, nature or our all-too-human political leaders can throw at us.…
And that could rise to 10 million deaths per year within 30 years, at an economic cost of US$100 trillion
A deadly threat hangs over us that’s much more immediate than climate change and has already started killing people. It now kills over 700,000 people a year worldwide. The fatalities could rise to 10 million per annum within 30 years. Together, cancer, diabetes and cholera take fewer lives. The economic cost would be US$100 trillion.…
The sense of being marginalized and treated as second-class provinces has long been felt in the West. But opting out won't suit our needs
I was born in Quebec, and raised, married and had my children in Montreal. You might think that makes me a Quebecer but there are those who disagree. I’m an Anglophone. Some feel that only Francophones with generations of history in the province are ‘real’ Quebecers. For the past several decades, I’ve lived in B.C.…
In the gig economy, more and more of us will be out on our own. That means we need to hone new skills to help our enterprises succeed
As 2019 morphs into 2020, more than numbers on the calendar are changing. Technology, communications, media, weather – even the way we work and earn our livings – aren’t what they used to be. It used to be jobs, jobs, jobs. That’s what we wanted for ourselves, our partners, our kids; it's what politicians promised…
Many people take a long time to launch on adult life because they've never been taught to spend less than they make
“The first responsibility of adulthood is paying your own bills,” according to Jamaica Finance Minister Peter Phillips. That country has worked hard to wean itself of dependency on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and is in a position to stand on its own feet economically. Paying your bills is a definition of adulthood that applies…
We were once the envy of the world. Now, talented young people and entire businesses are leaving for better prospects elsewhere
I think Canada is the best country in the world. I’ve always lived here but I’ve travelled extensively. Most people from other countries seem to share a positive opinion of Canada, though a few who live close the equator think of Canada as ‘instant popsicle.’ Climate aside, Canada is seen as a haven of freedom,…