Vancouver -- As Canada's premiers meet in Victoria to discuss different approaches to health system reform, a new study raises serious concerns about "Activity Based Funding" (ABF), a new funding model that pays hospitals based on the number of surgeries they perform.

ABF has been introduced in B.C. and is being considered in Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. However, research evidence from the U.S., U.K. and Europe shows that ABF's narrow focus on increasing "activity" in one part of the health-care system does not address the system-level changes needed to control health-care costs and improve patient care.

(Editor's note: Today is budget day in Ottawa. The Stephen Harper Conservative government is expected to cut taxes — including the GST — and increase spending for the military. The government has already cut programs that benefit the environment, has scrapped gains made by the NDP in last year's Liberal budget and will go ahead with its taxable $1200 per year per child as a “child-care” plan.

A record high number of Canadians think Canada's gap between rich and poor is growing — and it's causing them concern, according to an Environics Research poll conducted for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The poll reveals three-quarters (76 per cent) of Canadians believe Canada's gap between rich and poor has grown compared to 10 years ago. That number is up from 2003, when 70 per cent thought the gap had grown.

The integrity of Canada's medicare system is being challenged on several clear and pressing fronts, say leading experts gathering for a two-day conference to fix medicare.

Queue-jumping, extra-billing, two-tier U.S.-style health care, pending labour shortages, and lack of federal leadership pose serious threats to the future of Canada's public health care, says Tommy Douglas' daughter, actress Shirley Douglas.

“There are dark storm clouds looming over Canada's health care system,” says Douglas.

“My father had a very clear vision for a public health care system that was pu

The federal government's current budgetary process is leaving women behind.

A recent report concludes that if women are to be equal benefactors of federal budget surpluses, the federal government must stop ignoring its domestic and international commitments to undertake gender budget analysis in Canada.

Gender budget initiatives analyze public money through the lens of gender and attempt to break down national or local budgets according to their impact on women and men, boys and girls.

While the budget appears to be a gender-neutral policy instrument, government expenditures and taxes i