QUOI Media

09/17/2026

For Immediate Release -- from Nature Canada:

Why is nature being sold off by Ottawa?

Liberal Cabinet Ministers are expected to table legislation with major environmental consequences after a summer of consultation on the proposed “Extinction Papers”

Unceded Algonquin Territory — Ottawa, ON | September 17, 2026

Next week, Parliament will resume after a summer that has seen wildfires, a tariff war with the United States and environmental and economic unease across Canada. The choices that Canadian parliamentarians make in their first few days back will be a significant test of character for them and for the country they will help to create.

At the start of the summer, the federal government published its Getting Major Projects Built in Canada paper, with proposals to enable Ministers “to adjust [i.e., lower] environmental conditions for projects of national interest,” to grant favoured corporations the ability to bypass the environmental reviews that apply to everyone else and to set aside the lawful protection of species threatened with extinction.

These proposals, dubbed the “Extinction Papers,” shocked the conscience of Canadians everywhere, and mobilized international opposition in some of Canada’s most important trading partners in Europe and Asia.

In response, Nature Canada convened 20 ENGOs, whose conversations are summarized in our report about creating a better path forward for Canada in A Canada Worth Building Puts Nature up Front.

Meanwhile, over 26,000 Canadians – including not only expert knowledge-holders but also business owners, farmers, schoolteachers and more – wrote to, telephoned and met with their MPs to call on the government to do the right thing, and draw back from the precipice.

In its subsequent What We Heard report, the government faced up to the scale of the democratic opposition to its initial proposals by acknowledging that “Canadians have made it clear that they want a regulatory system that is more efficient and predictable, without compromising environmental protections or Indigenous rights.”

“We are relieved that the Major Projects Office has signaled a willingness to reconsider its plans to neutralize the laws that protect species at risk,” says Akaash Maharaj, Policy Director at Nature Canada. “But we still do not know what they are actually planning this autumn. Extinction is neither a necessary nor an acceptable cost for development. It is outlandish that one week, the federal government announced billions of dollars in public funds to protect nature, and the next week, it announced plans to let private corporations lay waste to nature. That policy incoherence undermines everything the government has said it is trying to accomplish.”

There remains much peril in the approach the government intends to take to Parliament in the coming weeks. Nature Canada calls on MPs to heed the voice of their constituents and speak up for the reality that the only way to build an economy that delivers prosperity today and tomorrow is to build it on a foundation of environmental responsibility.

Backgrounder:

Nature Canada has completed its analysis of the ways in which the proposed legislation could undermine the $3.8 Billion investment the federal government has made to nature and conservation. The report, entitled A Canada Worth Building Puts Nature up Front goes through each of the three pillars that the government outlined and the risks and solutions that the environmental community supports to build Canada and protect nature. It is available in both English and French.

Read more:

Liberal Cabinet Ministers are expected to table legislation with major environmental consequences after a summer of consultation

09/14/2026

From Laura Syron, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada:

Food insecurity is connected to a higher risk of developing diabetes and with poor management of existing diabetes. Research shows food costs can also directly contribute to the onset of type 2 diabetes. Food insecurity pushes lower income families to buy cheaper, blood-sugar spiking options and skip meals, neither of which helps with diabetes management.

This is not just a niche problem. About 10 per cent of our population live with diagnosed diabetes.

The impact of untreated or poorly managed diabetes on the health system itself is significant, given the costs of associated chronic diseases such as cardiac disease, high blood pressure, diminished kidney function and diabetic retinopathy (which impacts eyesight), to name but a few.

Read more:
https://quoimedia.com/the-hidden-costs-of-a-diabetes-diagnosis-healthy-food-options/

I didn’t fully appreciate the costs people living with diabetes would be expected to bear out-of-pocket until I experienced it personally.

09/14/2026

For Immediate Release:
UBCO researchers lay out the case for integrating psychologists into primary health-care settings

Stronger integration could improve access to mental-health care, support physicians and save billions

As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to host the inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto this September, a new review co-led by researchers at argues that the country is leaving one of its largest economic and system opportunities untouched: the integration of into .

Published in Canadian Psychology, the review synthesizes three decades of national and international evidence to make the case that Canada already has the workforce and the science to close one of the widest gaps in its health-care system, and that the missing piece is policy.

“One in two primary-care visits in this country now involves a concern, and family themselves say they don’t have the training, the time or the team to handle that load,” says Dr. Michelle St. Pierre, a postdoctoral fellow in UBC

Okanagan’s Department of and corresponding author on the review. “The model that works—integrated primary care—has been studied for decades. We just haven’t built it here at scale.”

The review also documents the cost of the status quo.

Roughly two in five Canadians with a mental-health condition say they are not getting the care they need. About 6.5 million individuals lack a , the highest rate among Canada’s peer countries.

Mental illness costs the Canadian economy an estimated $42 billion annually in treatment and support, with another $50 billion in lost productivity and absenteeism.

What the review found

Integrated primary care embeds mental-health specialists, including , directly within family-practice teams. Across studies from , the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, the pattern is consistent:

Wait times fall. One Canadian study documented drops of more than six weeks when a psychologist joined a primary-care team.

Patients engage. Up to 90 per cent of patients referred to co-located mental-health providers complete their treatment, outperforming traditional referrals.

Outcomes improve. Patients show measurable, lasting improvements in depression, anxiety and chronic disease management.

Physicians benefit. Doctors in fully integrated practices report lower burnout and greater professional satisfaction.

Costs come down. A Canadian economic analysis estimated that every dollar invested in publicly covered psychological services returns roughly two dollars in savings to society.

A working example in BC
Since 2023, a registered clinical psychologist has been embedded one day per week in the UBCO Student Health Clinic through the Primary Care Psychologist Program, a UBC Okanagan pilot developed by the review’s co-authors.

Read more:

As Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to host the inaugural […]

09/11/2026

From Laura Syron, President and CEO at Diabetes Canada:

"The job of a CEO requires a lot of public speaking – on zoom calls, at podiums, in board meetings. Pretty much every day you’re delivering some kind of address or talking points.

My role as CEO is no different; the only difference is that my speech or presentation might get interrupted by the “beep-beep-beep” of my contiguous glucose monitor (CGM) alerting me that my blood sugar has spiked or dipped.

I live with type 2 diabetes, and I am the President and CEO of Diabetes Canada. Over the past 10 years I’ve been on a balancing, high-wire act: how to be transparent, open and at times vulnerable about my chronic condition while also leading a national health-charity as a female CEO.

It has not been easy."

Read more at Honest Talk:
https://www.thehonesttalk.ca/honest-thoughts/how-to-lead-as-a-woman-living-with-a-chronic-condition/

Over the past 10 years I’ve been on a balancing, high-wire act: how to be transparent, open and at times vulnerable about my chronic condition while also leading a national health-charity as a female CEO.

09/10/2026

From Nature Canada:

REACTION: Nature Canada: Min. LeBlanc Hears Clear Rebuke Of “Extinction Papers”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The federal government’s “What we Heard” consultation report on its proposed Getting Major Project Built policy paper gives hope that this government is listening to Canadians and taking us seriously. Minister Leblanc is quoted saying:

“Canadians have made it clear that they want a regulatory system that is more efficient and predictable, without compromising environmental protections or Indigenous rights.”

Recent polling backs that up and the overwhelming response of Canadians to these “extinction papers” seems to have given him pause. A few months ago it seemed the government was willing to sacrifice nature on the altar of economic resilience; but the change in tone is now palpable.

The report’s Executive Summary makes it clear that Canadians spoke with an overwhelming voice in support of nature:

“What emerged were clear perspectives for effective assessment processes: one that prioritizes consultation with Indigenous Peoples, maintains thorough environmental evaluation, preserves species at risk protections, and ensures transparent decision-making.”

As we review the reports in more detail, we note that the report highlights the strong public engagement during the consultation process; with tens of thousands of Canadians’ voices amplified through ENGOs like Nature Canada. But it also notes that undefined “diverse stakeholders” are in favour of changes such as Special Economic Zones, and ministerial discretion to waive environmental protection. Such stakeholders almost certainly include major corporate interests, backed by petro-dollars and focussed on resource extraction.

Given the asymmetrical resources between ENGOs representing everyday Canadian voters and the “diverse stakeholders”, one would hope that the Minister weighs those perspectives accordingly.

As the Policy Director at Nature Canada, Akaash Maharaj is at the forefront of shaping policies with federal, provincial, and Indigenous governments to protect species and conserve habitats across the country. He focusses on helping bring Canada into compliance with its commitments under global treaties on biodiversity and climate change.

For additional comment:
Akaash Maharaj, Director of Policy, Nature Canada
[email protected] | 416-995-3275

https://naturecanada.ca/news/statements/reaction-nature-canada-min-leblanc-hears-clear-rebuke-of-extinction-papers/

Your voice for nature!

09/02/2026

The outrage bots and attention trolls took the rest of the internet. We saved this slice for you.

09/01/2026

SEVEN PER CENT OF GDP

From Dr. Ivy Oandasan:

"The premiers warned of a fiscal cliff as health agreements begin to expire next year. Some called for the federal share, now around 21 per cent, to climb back toward half. And their closing communiqué asked for one thing above all: increased unconditional and flexible federal funding.

Unconditional – their word. A bigger cheque, with nothing said about what the cheque is meant to buy.

I’ve been a family physician for more than three decades. I’ve taken on patients who went years without care, arriving with conditions that could have been caught in time and weren’t. And I’ve watched patients I’ve known for years leave work because illness left them no choice.

Lack of healthcare access costs us workers. So does illness itself. The toll lands on whole families, who are often my patients too. The strain on a household is easy to see from the inside. The strain on the economy is the same strain, spread across millions of households, and we’ve never added it up.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) reports that 5.7 million Canadian adults had no regular healthcare provider in 2024. Over the past five years, the supply of family physicians per person went down, not up. And CIHI’s own conclusion deserves a second read: closing this gap will take a system-wide approach that goes beyond adding more healthcare professionals.

Britain has already put a price on ignoring this. A review commissioned by the UK government reported last fall that ill health is now the biggest reason working-age Britons leave the workforce, costing the state £212B a year. Seven per cent of GDP."

Read more:
https://quoimedia.com/the-premiers-asked-for-a-bigger-health-cheque-they-forgot-to-say-what-its-for/

Canada's premiers spent this week in Charlottetown talking about the economy, internal trade, nation-building projects.

08/31/2026

ICYMI:
"The government risks undermining this vital investment and moving Canada in the wrong direction by proposing legislative, regulatory and policy changes that weaken environmental protections in order to fast-track major projects such as pipelines, ports and mines – disregarding the critical connection between the environment and the economy.

This is misguided and dangerous. There are far more effective ways for the government to speed up project reviews without diluting environmental standards – alternatives that benefit both nature and the economy.

Nature Canada – in our submitted response to the government’s proposals – has identified more than a dozen practical reforms that do just that.

The government should take them seriously."

Read Emily McMillan and Akaash Maharaj of Nature Canada

Wildfires raging in Canada this summer not only underscore the severe threat that climate change poses to the country’s ecosystems

08/28/2026

"Our recent report, Collaboration for Transformation: A Systems-change Report on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada, found that for Canadian women, their daily reality as entrepreneurs is shaped as much by friction as by opportunity.

First, the design of financial support is out of step with how women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs build, sustain and grow their businesses.

Often grants require matching funds women do not have. Or they are offered loan-heavy support that feels risky in a political climate that changes almost daily. Many tools are geared for early start-ups or large-scale operations, leaving those in the middle with little to support their next steps.

Women entrepreneurs are also paying a legitimacy tax their male colleagues do not have to pay.

Having to prove your business is real, viable and successful is tiring. Even more frustrating is having to re-explain your business model or shoehorn your vision into categories that simply don’t fit drains time, capital and momentum.

Non-traditional business models created most often by women are seen as marginal, because they lack a downtown office, obvious staff or a tech team. Revenue and scale do not appear to count. Many women are also forced to rely on personal savings or incur debt because funding programs don’t reflect their business stage, sector or scale.

Perhaps the biggest barriers come from bureaucratic complexity. In our research, we found the business infrastructure in Canada is fragmented, unstable and opaque, and most often signified by an absence of communication, frequently shifting rules and unexpected or hidden eligibility requirements.

All of these factors create enormous friction, fear and frustration. If you are an entrepreneur who is racialized, Indigenous, immigrant, disabled and/or rural, you will experience all of these barriers more intensely."

Read more from Rosalind Lockyer, CEO Centre For Women's Enterprise Canada:

https://quoimedia.com/how-entrepreneurial-supports-in-canada-are-stacked-against-women-and-how-we-can-fix-them/

women are starting and running businesses successfully despite operating in an economic environment that is not designed for women.