News for February 4th, 2016

February 4 2016 // News

LOCAL
By Julian McKenzie

Quebec health minister Gaetan Barrette announced Wednesday that he wishes to standardize the cost of medical treatments for the province.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Barrette believes the standardized costs will save Quebec "hundreds of millions of dollars” and will reduce waiting times for patients.

Barrette also wishes to set an average base price for each health service in order for hospitals to bill the government and kickstart an initiative called “activity-based funding”.

Healthcare IT company Logibec will study the costs of medical procedures in institutions across the province.

The process is due to cost taxpayers up to 70 million dollars.

 

NATIONAL

By Pauline Nesbitt
The US Senate Homeland and Security Committee held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss Canada's plan to settle 25,000 Syrian refugees. 
 
According to CBC News, committee members debated whether refugee applications were being checked against the US database.

Canadian Immigration Minister John McCallum confirmed that the Canadian government had provided details to the US on security measures being followed when processing refugee applications.

He added that the US government did not express any concerns. 

McCallum downplayed the security fears expressed at the Senate Committee hearing by calling it political theatre.

 

INTERNATIONAL
By Julia Bryant

A string of anti-feminist meetings that were set to take place on Saturday have been cancelled.

The meetings were organized by Return of Kings, a controversial men's group that was founded by an American blogger.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the leader, known as Roosh V., has also advocated for rape to be legal within private homes.

The meetings were set to take place in 43 different places across the globe, including Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. 

The group received significant backlash on the Internet, including disapproving tweets from Canadian city mayors.