The measurement of health care waiting times, or the examination of the absolute delay Canadians must endure in order to receive medically necessary care, is only one way of looking at the burden of waiting for health care. We can also calculate the privately borne cost of waiting: the value of the time that is lost while waiting for treatment. The estimated cost of waiting for care in Canada for patients who were in the queue in 2012 was $982 million.

Canada is in the midst of negotiations over the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union, and the multi-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). A key issue to be settled in these negotiations is intellectual property (IP) protection for pharmaceutical innovation. Canada faces pressure to enhance IP protection so that it more closely aligns with protection that prevails in Europe and the United States, among other nations.

The standard of living of First Nations is on average much lower than that of other Canadians, but some First Nations have achieved higher well-being than others. This paper is an investigation into the factors that promote prosperity for First Nations.