After public pressure, the Alberta government announced it will cover the costs for expectant mothers who choose to deliver their babies using a midwife.
Starting April 1, 2009, midwifery will be added to the maternity services covered by the public health system in Alberta, the province said on Thursday. The average cost of using a midwife [...]

Ontario has a “piecemeal” approach to treating autistic adults that leaves some of society’s most vulnerable without the help they need, an advocacy group said in a discussion paper just released.
The report by Autism Ontario, entitled “Forgotten,” said the government needs to form a consistent policy for dealing with adults who have the developmental disorder.
Howard [...]

A new study says Nova Scotians are working more hours than ever as their free time shrinks. The report, by Nova Scotia-based research group GPI Atlantic, says on average workers are putting in a months’ more of extra paid work time than they did 10 years ago.
The data is drawn from Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey [...]

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has approved a new policy that will allow doctors licensed in other parts of Canada to register in the province. Doctors from the United States who have completed post-graduate training and exams will also be able to practise as of Dec. 1.
The college says it expects the changes [...]

The latest study by a group representing Ontario doctors shows chatting on a cellphone while driving significantly increases the risk of collision. The Ontario Medical Association says mobile phone use impacts a driver’s cognitive function, visual concentration, speed of processing information and reaction time.
The study has found that cellphone use puts drivers at significantly greater risk [...]

Fewer young people in Ontario died of bike-related injuries after the introduction of a law requiring their use, Canadian researchers have found.
Under a law passed on Oct. 1, 1995, in Ontario, parents of children under 16 can be fined if a child is not wearing a bike helmet, and 16- or 17-year-olds who fail to [...]

Some Ontarians are willing to take drastic steps in order to have access to prompt health care, but a majority remains skeptical about the eventual end of the health premium implemented by the provincial government, a new Toronto Star / Angus Reid poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative provincial sample, 43 per [...]

The Ontario government is now seizing cars owned or driven by repeat drunk drivers under the province’s amended civil forfeiture law, the first program of its kind in Canada. ”This new law is a message to drunk drivers: Stop your irresponsible behaviour or you could lose your wheels,” Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said in a [...]

Ontario’s Ministry of Health Promotion is distributing 8,000 free bike helmets to children across Ontario, including 800 in Ottawa.
About 70 of those helmets were fitted and handed out Thursday at Britannia Park in Ottawa’s west end in an event held jointly by the Ontario government and Ottawa Public Health as part of a $500,000 provincial [...]

Canadians needing an organ donation will be able to quickly find donors from across the country after a long-sought integrated program is launched.
Canadian Blood Services announced Tuesday that provincial and territorial health ministers have expanded the agency’s mandate from blood to organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Federal, provincial and territorial governments are contributing $35 [...]