The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in US Business

Importantly, the West must maintain unity in delivering security guarantees to Ukraine. This must be a repeat of the Budapest Memorandum, in which our commitments to Kyiv proved futile.Ukraine has already stood up to Russia. The West will have to do the same.If you, like the vast majority of people, did not read the most recent Ontario provincial budget from beginning to end, you may have missed a new project tucked away on page 92 to establish a "Innovation Pathway" for health technologies.This new program, led by the government's procurement agency Supply Ontario, has the potential to alter our health system for the benefit of patients, providers, and entrepreneurs alike. Minister Sarkaria and Minister Jones are on track to solve the sector's long-standing innovation problem and build a stronger healthcare system that provides higher-quality care to more patients across the province by championing local health technologies and leveraging government procurement. Let's explain how.It's no secret that Canada has historically struggled with innovation. In health care, the issue is not a scarcity of commercialized and market-ready Canadian-made technologies and products. In fact, Ontario has a rapidly developing and thriving ecosystem of successful medtech firms, of which we are a member through the Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX).

Our health-care innovation problem is actually 

an adoption one. Because the sector is publicly funded, the only means to fund the adoption of new technology is through philanthropic donations or one-time government grants. This presents a challenge for both entrepreneurs and health providers because neither option is permanent nor scalable, trapping high-impact innovations in an endless cycle of pilots. While this method may be beneficial to taxpayers in the short term, it means that the bulk of Canadian-made health advances are not employed domestically.The lack of a specialized framework for evaluating and funding disruptive health technologies has a direct impact on both patients and clinicians. Innovations that could assist enhance recovery times, reduce the likelihood of hospital readmission, or detect a post-surgery issue earlier are all too often overlooked. Similarly, technologies and devices that could help free up hospital beds or reduce surgical backlogs are not being used—not because they are ineffective or because hospitals and physicians do not want to use them, but because financing is not available to enable their usage.In various publicly financed jurisdictions around the world, this issue is addressed by establishing a framework for testing and evaluating health innovations, and then expanding those that are most relevant to local goals or have a significant impact in terms of service or cost. 

This strategy would gradually support increased 

adoption of the innovation as proof is generated, with the highest-impact innovations receiving a favorable technology evaluation being completely funded by the jurisdiction's health insurance plan. While similar systems exist in Ontario and other provinces, they are typically overly complex, unaligned with government priorities, and, most critically, unrelated to Ministry of Health financing decisions that would convert a favorable assessment into an actual payment outcome.This explains why the new innovation pathway has so much potential. If the government successfully develops a new system for testing, evaluating, and reimbursing innovative health technologies and gadgets, it will transform Ontario's health care system.So, how should the government go about developing this pathway? The goal is to begin testing the pathway as soon as possible. The worst-case scenario would be to spend 6-12 months arguing how the pathway should operate, allowing serious concerns that could be resolved now to fester. Instead, the government should spend this spring developing an early prototype that Supply Ontario can execute this summer. This strategy should include support for 1) the adoption of new technologies to provide fresh evidence, and 2) the increasing usage of existing high-impact technologies in tandem with reimbursement assessments to ensure benefits are achieved as quickly as possible.

Finally, the government should prioritize Ontario-owned 

businesses in this pathway to the greatest extent possible. The construction of this pathway has the potential to transform both our health care system and our economy. For far too long, Ontario's health entrepreneurs have faced the same adoption barrier, forcing numerous enterprises to go south of the border or close their doors. With the new innovation pathway, we and others in the sector praise the government for launching an initiative that will finally address this issue. And now that it's resolved, we'll be able to work together to construct a better future for our health care by utilizing the best technologies and gadgets made in Ontario.The Trudeau government spent years courting China, but after holding our citizens hostage and undermining our democracy, we now know that Beijing wants Canada's obedience rather than reciprocal respect. It is consequently critical that the federal government take a more strong approach that forces Beijing to consider Canadian interests seriously. A excellent place to start is to support Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).As China profits from its asymmetrical relationship with Canada and has shown no interest in changing the existing quo, Ottawa must advocate for a more equitable arrangement. However, there are limited ways to punish Beijing for poor behavior.Economic compulsion would be ineffective and self-destructive. Alternatively, Canada may strive to diplomatically shame or destabilize China (for example, by more firmly condemning human rights violations), but this risks drawing harsh reprisal from Beijing—especially if Ottawa moves unilaterally.