David Benrimoh, a fourth-year medical student at McGill University and one of the organizers of the event, said students are trying to compensate for what Barrette didn’t do.

April 23 and 24 in Montreal

Since becoming minister in 2014, Barrette passed Bill 10, merging health boards and expected to cut administrative costs by more than $200 million a year, and Bill 20, restricting access to in vitro fertilization and increasing the number of patients Quebec family doctors have to take on.

A new initiative by Canadian company CognisantMD hopes to reduce those waiting times. It has created a Syrian Refugee Medical Intake Tool, providing newcomers with a way to complete a full patient history and mental-health screening in their native tongue.

he Ontario government spent 1.6 per cent less of provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to the other provinces in 2010-11. With sharp cutbacks in Ontario, that gap had increased to 2.1 per cent by 2014/15. On this basis, Ontario spent about $15-billion less on programs than the other provinces and territories. On a per capita basis, Ontario is the lowest spending (and lowest revenue) provincial government in Canada. Ontario spent $1,200 less per person in 2010/11 than the other provinces and territories and almost $2,000 less per person in 2014/15. Here the gap is even larger – Ontario spent about $27-billion less on a per capita basis than the other provinces and territories.

Over the last two years, Ontario has lost 19,000 public sector workers, with most of the loss occurring in the last year. The downward trend in Ontario contrasts with the upward trend across the rest of Canada.

On a per-capita basis, Ontario has fallen 60,825 public sector jobs further behind the rest of Canada in just two years. When you need a healthcare worker, this reality will come home to roost.

When it comes to what Canadians care about, one thing keeps topping the list: their health.In fact, in an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News before last week’s federal budget, Canadians ranked spending more on health care as their top priority out of 15 choices.

“We have seniors being kept in hospital beds simply because we do not have the resources to care for them in our communities,” NDP health critic Don Davies said in question period Thursday. “Why are Liberals abandoning their promise to invest in home care when this money is so badly needed?”

Health Minister Jane Philpott insisted the money is still on the table and she’s working towards an agreement with her provincial and territorial counterparts.

The budget also doesn’t reverse cuts to federal transfers planned under the Harper government.

She added that a “shift in our thinking is needed, away from the management of individual cases and towards the longer term building of capacities in countries to cope with these added burdens. Fetal malformations place a heartbreaking strain on families and communities, as well as systems for healthcare and social support.”WHO said that Zika virus transmission has been reported in 33 countries and territories of the Americas and that Cuba and Dominica were the latest to report local transmission. An increase in the number of cases of microcephaly has been reported in Brazil and French Polynesia, and an increased incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome has been reported in 12 countries.

News reports have stated that Panama reported its first case of microcephaly linked to the Zika virus on 19 March, although this has not yet been confirmed by WHO.Christopher Dye, director of strategy, policy, and information at WHO, told the press conference that studies currently suggest that about 1% of cases of the infection will lead to severe neurological disorders.

The additional midwives would be about a 50% increase from the 57 currently working in Manitoba and be hired within one term of being re-elected, Selinger said. The NDP leader believes a new collective agreement offering higher pay and benefits to midwives will help attract candidates within and beyond Manitoba, which has proven a persistent challenge so far. Kelly Moist, president of CUPE Manitoba, was among the union and health-care workers who met with Selinger prior to the announcement. Moist said she expects the 25 new midwives would improve use of the Winnipeg Birth Centre, which opened to serve as a site for midwife-led births in November 2011.

Saskatchewan began having a Change Day in 2014, and BC followed in 2015.

"This ongoing medical crisis is related to access to medical services," the letter said. "Canadians would not, and should not accept the access to health care that those in these remote communities live with on a daily basis."

The clinics are staffed with nurse practitioners and registered nurses who can diagnose and treat minor illnesses like colds, flus or sprains. The clinics are meant to take pressure off of busy emergency rooms. "The QuickCare Clinics are a very reasonable price," Selinger said. "It's an extremely reasonable and cost effective approach to providing timely accessible quality health care."

The pay-per-use model would use the same model as what the party calls a "two-for-one" system that's currently in place for MRI scans: for every scan paid for privately, the clinic offering the CT scan would be required to provide a second scan at no charge to a patient waiting for a scan on the public list.