MaryCatherineClancy

With poise and confidence, Canada's 24th Prime Minister Mark Carney politely informs Elon Musk he can go straight to hell.

Canada - this is Dr. Paul Parks in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Alberta is a great, foundational province in this nation. But the struggle for average Albertans has never been more serious. Two-tier medicine is a grave threat to Albertans - and Canadians. Follow Dr. Parks. @PfParks

Ontario: when more than 1/2 of all the patients in the ER are admitted to hospital but there is no hospital bed to admit them to - I'm flagging to you we have a serious and ongoing problem. If you want to Protect Ontario - start here - because everyone is going to need the ER.

Bob Rae is right. We in Canada are a fabulously blessed and wealthy nation. We can engage with nations other than the United States and we should act like the Americans know that.

Canada, this is our land. Sign and make this petition viral to declare Pete Hoekstra persona non grata. Leanne Walker from the great province of Alberta launched this petition - thank you. ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/P…

Dr. Fauci: -Led NIH for 38 years. -Led against HIV/AIDS saving 26 million. -Led against anthrax, SARS, H1N1, Ebola and Zika. -Led COVID-19 vaccination preventing 1.6 million hospitalizations and 235,000 deaths in the US from 2020-21. -So yah, real doctors respect him.

Hi Ben, thanks for commenting. Allow me to elaborate.  First, nice to meet you. We may disagree on policy. But like many Canadians I have a deep respect for the commitment of your family to the betterment of our great nation. Second, you raised that I'm making a political point which I disagree with. My arguments are based on medical foundations, which you correctly noted is my expertise. Where I think you are right is that policy disagreement can seem political.  Ben, I don't belong to a political party. I've been an Ontario ER doctor for 20 years. I take care of diabetes, hypertension and addictions daily. I'm a full-time ER doc engaged in civic matters. And while I may criticize conservative policy Ben, I am able to praise Leader Poilievre (yesterday), Premier Ford (June 24) and Deputy Premier Jones (May 19, 26, 28) when I think they get it right. Like you Ben, I'm interested in good public policy with my orientation to the average and lower-income Canadian.  Third - let's look at it - but I think you and I will agree on most public health policy around addictions, but not all. But first - my wheelhouse - medicine. The foundations of medicine are the foundations of 1) chronic disease management and 2) addictions.  The Four Pillars of Addiction Medicine: 1) Law enforcement - here Ben, we likely agree. People who violate our laws should face the criminal-justice system. As has been shown however, I don't think arresting and incarcerating someone for active drug use is the solution. They need medical care and wrap-around social services. Incarceration is far more expensive than hospital care which is far more expensive than shelters which is far more expensive than safe consumption sites. I hope we can agree a criminal-justice approach to the homeless fentanyl user (who I take care of almost daily) isn't compassionate, effective or a good use of taxpayer's money.  2) Education/Prevention - here Ben, we likely agree. You and I likely agree all Ontarians should be drug-free. We should educate adults and children about the harms of recreational drug use. It wrecks human lives. I see it daily. Patients I have taken care of are now dead too early. You and I likely agree on the goal of total drug abstinence. We should inform those with addictions that there is no barrier addictions support (walk-in) Monday to Friday in Toronto.  3) Treatment - here Ben, we likely agree. We likely agree Premier Ford's expansion of HART hubs is a good policy idea. We likely agree low barrier medical detox and treatment facilities should be expanded. We likely agree we are not meeting the need for treatment, because too many Ontarians still die from toxic drugs. And let's agree that it's mostly non-Toronto, young, Caucasian men of lower income that are mostly dying (with First Nations over-represented in deaths).  4) Harm reduction - here, we may disagree but we shouldn't. Harm reduction is not a dirty phrase. It's what physicians do for a living. For the vast majority of diabetics I examine, I don't have a cure for their condition (and neither does their family MD or endocrinologist). But I treat exacerbations of their condition, we aim to improve their diet, promote exercise, counsel on adherence to medications - and this reduces the harm of their yet untreatable condition. This is harm reduction. There is no other way to describe it medically. The same holds for hypertension. For many Canadians we counsel diet (reduced salt), exercise, stopping smoking and excess drinking, weight loss and medications - because for some, their high blood pressure is incurable. Of note, some hypertensives can be cured and de-prescribed medications.  I hope you can see how for diabetes and hypertension, physicians employ harm reduction. The same applies to addictions.  For addictions, we should want law enforcement, education, treatment and harm prevention. Lacking harm prevention is like driving a 3-wheeled car. It can work, but it's not optimal.  For addictions, the point of harm reduction is that it is supposed to be a bridge to somewhere. A bridge to abstinence, housing, social supports and a better life.   Two hang-ups for some are two big myths: 1) Harm reduction increases crime 2) Harm reduction doesn't work.  Myth: harm reduction (safe consumption) increases crime -In November 2025, McGill researchers looked at 10 years of Toronto Police data. Harm reduction sites were found to be associated with stable or less crime. Journal of the American Medical Association. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam… Myth: harm reduction (safe consumption) doesn't work to save lives -In February 2024, Toronto researchers looked at and showed safe consumption sites saved lives, The Lancet. thelancet.com/action/showPdf… Thanks for reading. Ultimately, if you examine this issue from a strictly medical lens, the foundations of medicine are the foundations of addictions medicine. We have unfairly villainized harm reduction when it is what doctors in Ontario and Canada do everyday. We want to cure human disease, but when we cannot, we try to lessen the effects of the condition, and that is harm reduction - whether for diabetes, hypertension or the homeless fentanyl user.  Thanks Ben, Raghu