Organization: Health Canada

Why Canada needs a national vaccine strategy

The private sector has little appetite for manufacturing small-volume, niche vaccines for pandemic viruses. That’s why any primary manufacturing facility for vaccines like COVID-19 need to be federally owned and operated.

A long-term research and pandemic strategy is long overdue

Expert groups called for a national and holistic approach to pandemic planning in 1993 and again in 2003. With $1-million in seed funding, the current federal government is finally moving to make a long-term research and pandemic strategy a reality.

The Short Report, May 13, 2020: Public trust in science rising; new COVID-19 advisory councils created; OneEleven ceases operations; and more

COVID-19 NEWS Canadians’ trust in doctors, scientists and the government has increased since the cornovirus pandemic began, finds public opinion polls from January and repeated on May 1 and May 2. Conducted by Proof Strategies CanTrust Index of Ottawa, the survey found that 76% of Canadians trusted doctors and 70% trusted scientists. The follow up…

The Short Report, April 28, 2020: Alarming drop in donations for health charities; Health Canada approves COVID-19 clinical trial; and more

Health charities are seeing an “alarming” drop in donations, which they warn will compromise the health of Canadians living with chronic disease. HealthPartners, a collaboration of 16 Canadian charities, released the findings in its report, The Impact of COVID-19 on our Most Vulnerable Canadians. In response to declining donations, the report says health charities have…

The Short Report, April 15, 2020: Regulators move fast to approve AI-powered x-rays for COVID-19; American lawmakers look askance at Huawei PPE donations; and more

The Fonds de recherche du Québec – santé (FRQS), the Quebec government’s health sciences research arm, will provide $2 million to help create the Centre de Recherche en Biologie Structurale (CRBS) at McGill University. The centre aims to advance understanding of the fundamental biological mechanisms of disease, which could help address medical challenges like targeting treatments to specific…

The Short Report, March 4, 2019: Kirsty Duncan moves for a standing committee on science and research; Alberta cuts post-secondary education funding; Canadian miners make an action plan

The Short Report: New Parliamentary standing committee proposed for science and research; new Protein Industries Supercluster projects; Alberta cuts post-secondary education funding while Ontario increases it; boosting competitiveness of Canada’s mining sector; creating research internships for students; Canadian science for the Moon; developing small nuclear reactor technology; and more.

New federal strategy aims to ensure Indigenous governance of research

Canada’s Tri-Council of major government funding agencies and Indigenous partners across the country have co-developed a new Indigenous research strategic plan. The plan, which proposes a new interdisciplinary research and research screening model, represents a significant new approach by the federal government and a contribution to reconciliation. With implementation starting this spring, the strategy aims to ensure Indigenous peoples lead and control any research involving them.

The Short Report, December 11, 2019: Wexit spooks Wattpad; Montreal’s swelling video-game sector; North promises better next time

The Toronto-based e-publisher Wattpad has chosen to open its second headquarters in Halifax rather than Calgary, due to concerns about Western separatism and the elimination of Alberta tax credits supporting companies in the innovation economy. Five business tax credit programs were cut, including the Investor Tax Credit introduced by the previous NDP government, which provided a 30%…