Opposition parties are criticizing the Harper government’s latest budget, which contains few changes from the fiscal plan introduced before the federal election this spring…“I really feel like they’ve kind of ignored these very basic quality of life issues that more and more people are facing and struggling with.” The Vancouver East MP said health care and housing are among those key issues. “I’m hugely disappointed and actually hopping mad that they just don’t get it about housing,” said Davies. “It’s not like the money isn’t there, because they’re giving away billion in these corporate tax cuts,” she added. “It’s all about how the pie’s made up and how it’s divided.”

OTTAWA — If Canada wants to improve its health-care system, it should start by better organizing all the bits and pieces of crucial information that confound doctors, patients and administrators, says the Health Council of Canada. The council is responsible for monitoring progress on a 10-year federal-provincial health accord that infused provincial systems with $41 billion in federal money in 2004. In its latest evaluation released Tuesday, the council said that many provinces have laid the groundwork for better-quality health care in some areas. But progress is patchy, varying greatly province by province. Information on the system's health as a whole — let alone that of individual patients — is unreliable…The report is a call for a stronger federal role in health care, especially in pharmaceutical strategy, said NDP health critic Libby Davies. "The federal government has been absent," Davies said. "The report expresses concern about the patchwork effect. Some provinces have made progress on some issues, other provinces on other things. But what is it that holds it together? It's got to be the federal government."