Opinion

08 Mar: International Women’s Day 2024 – “Celebrating Women Leaders Across Ontario’s Life Sciences Sector” by Life Sciences Ontario (LSO) & Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO®)

Today, women make up 50% of university students enrolled in STEM and health programs in Canada.[1] Women identifying as visible minorities make up 44.4% of women aged 25 years or older with a post-secondary degree or higher in STEM.[2]  However, these numbers do not translate equally into the workforce where…

04 Mar: Canadians are paying the price for failed drug-pricing policy

Dr. Jason Field’s separates facts from fiction in a constructive www.healthydebate.ca article (https://healthydebate.ca/opinions/failed-drug-pricing-policy/). When other countries were working collaboratively with the life sciences sector as soon as #COVID hit, Health Canada was imposing drastic and uncertain price controls. Myths are separated from facts on key issues, including How much Canadians actually spend…

20 Oct: The Case for a Canadian Health and Life Sciences Supercluster

The federal government recently announced the shortlist for its $950 million innovation superclusters initiative, with a notable omission: Out of nine proposals, not one is dedicated to health and life sciences — government’s single biggest budgetary challenge, our largest economic growth opportunity, and a priority for most Canadians. The only…

21 Mar: Will there be innovation in the Innovation Budget?

To grow our economy, government’s concept of what it means to invest in knowledge industries must change, says LSO President and CEO Jason Field The Trudeau government, Toronto Star columnist Paul Wells noted, came out of the gate hell-bent on consulting us. And consult us they did. The Liberal’s election in…

03 Feb: Big Pharma: Getting away with murder, or saving lives?

Jason Field, Life Sciences Ontario President & CEO, on the dangerous myths putting Canada’s pharmaceutical industry at risk US President Donald Trump recently sent biotech stocks tumbling with his claim that the pharmaceutical industry is “getting away with murder.” In a meeting with major US pharma companies this week, he again…