Andrew Longhurst 🇨🇦 🍉

@alonghurst.bsky.social

Senior researcher & political economist @policyalternatives.ca Health services, public finance, care economy, privatization, policy solutions SFU PhD candidate. Views mine https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/author/andrew-longhurst/

Please stop saying “lockdowns.” There were never true lockdowns in the US, and it fuels far right narratives to repeat this inaccurate statement. You can say closures, you can say restrictions, or better, you can say public health measures which saved many lives.

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · 6d ago

People still complain about “lockdowns” but we had none in the US. We had stay-at-home orders, where although businesses were closed, you could still go outside whenever you wanted. Other countries had far stricter rules, and yet have been much more accepting of them as they saved many more lives.

New for me: a long read on Western Canada‘s push to be an energy superpower, including the new pipeline, CCS, LNG and more. I break down the pertinent details and numbers from the new federal deals with Alberta and BC, and link back to climate. www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Fuel for the fires: Western Canada as an “energy superpower” | CCPA

The federal government is walking back climate action and fast-tracking fossil fuels in the West. It’s a strategy that won’t age well.

policyalternatives.ca

When one of my kids cut her knee over 10 years ago on some coral in the ocean, the combined ER and physician fee for her care was over $12,000 USD. For the xray, wound irrigation, and suturing her up. Thankfully we had travel insurance. I knew it was bad, but had no idea how ridiculously bad it was.

“Saskatchewan ($631), Nova Scotia ($620), New Brunswick ($558), and P.E.I. ($513) lead the country in private per person long-term care spending—significantly higher than the Canadian average of $386 per person.” www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Public versus private health care spending in Canada | CCPA

Canada already sees a higher portion of private health care spending than a lot of countries, and it needs to change

policyalternatives.ca

‼️ Sum: Ugh ‼️ ZERO evidence to support this move! Eg, likely to: > costs to healthcare system > overdiagnosis, anxiety, iatrogenic injury > confusion & inequities > wait times for public Alberta out-of-pocket payments for private medical testing beginning this week globalnews.ca/news/1199559...

Alberta out-of-pocket payments for private medical testing beginning this week | Globalnews.ca

Patients will pay for the tests when they receive them and potentially be reimbursed if the results lead to a cancer diagnosis, the Alberta government said.

globalnews.ca

The BC government's current approach does not follow the evidence. This continuing expansion of coercive confinement wastes precious health system resources and only sets us back in our fight against the worst public health emergency in our history. (8/8)

Let us be clear: Dr. Vigo is not an expert in the care of people who use drugs. He is not a specialist in addiction. He is not an adolescent psychiatrist. It is not even clear that he maintains an active clinical practice. (4/8)

Dr. Vigo has now crossed the line by deliberately confounding causation with correlation, a major scientific faux pas and, frankly, an embarrassing one. He is actively lying about science to support a government agenda. (3/8)