Key Issue: Healthy Communities

In the race to create a COVID-19 vaccine by collaborating across industries and pharmaceutical companies have exposed more cybersecurity risks than existed before the pandemic. In research and development, clinical trials, manufacturing and distribution, there’s a proliferation of new potential threats where cyber attackers are targeting, as evidenced by threat analysis reports from the U.S. […]

Background Air access for British Columbians in rural and remote regions has always been a challenge. Airlines struggle to economically provide routes and access to rural and remote areas while maintaining a positive balance sheet. Airlines have often written off the losses incurred in providing service to rural areas in order to feed passengers into […]

Canada needs to expand the number of players who can deliver (and collect payment) for Primary Healthcare. The decades-old model of family doctors as the primary gatekeepers to MSP billing, and therefore delivery of primary healthcare, needs to be adjusted to allow BC to catch up to the rest of the world in offering team-based […]

All British Columbians should have equitable access to medical services regardless of where in the Province they live. Access to quality healthcare is an important consideration for attracting and retaining qualified employees and often a key factor in the decision to relocate away from working and living in rural communities. In the 2017 report by […]

The fitness and exercise industry has been crippled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Additionally, public perception has been largely negative towards gyms and exercise programs, leading to a sluggish recovery. Exercise combined with a healthy diet can lead to improved mental and physical health, thereby reducing the burden on the public healthcare system providing treatment or […]

Background Communities across British Columbia face ongoing issues related to the supply and availability of affordable housing. These challenges range from housing for at-risk and low-income people, through to the affordability of housing for working families. The resulting impacts include social issues and community health crises, along with challenges for BC’s businesses to attract and […]

The STEP code is the envy of some Canadian municipalities, especially those without green building plans, and lower land costs. In BC, with its higher land costs, and high cost of housing, (Vancouver has been ranked the second most expensive housing market in the world after Hong Kong[1] for two years running) residents and builders […]

Last weekend marked the two-year anniversary of the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Canada, and was also the one-week countdown until British Columbians elect a new government. Tomorrow, numerous issues are top of mind as voters cast their ballots: the challenges faced by our intrepid healthcare workers as they strive to keep us safe, how […]

Canada is facing a continued affordable housing crisis, yet effort made by all levels of government have made very little discernable difference to Canadians. Creating an incentive for corporations and private landowners to donate land to Land Trusts, which will in-turn empower and enable them to develop affordable housing, providing a proven and sustainable solution […]

In ‘Accessibility 2024’, the provincial government’s goal for BC is to have the highest labour participation rate for people with disabilities in Canada by 2024 (p.12); a laudable and supportable goal; however, there is a sub-set of individuals who receive disability supports that are not well represented in the government literature. These individuals are recovering […]