For decades, if you asked a Canadian to name something they appreciated about this country, our universal healthcare system would invariably come up.

But in recent years, chronic underfunding, personnel shortages and the creep of privatization have taken their toll on a system that may or may not remain a point of national pride.

On this episode of Sources, our health reporter, Brishti Basu, talks to Dr. Danyaal Raza, who believes Canada's public healthcare system — "one of the highest expressions of us caring for one another," as he puts it — should be a nation-building priority. Raza is a family doctor at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, a board member at Canadian Doctors for Medicare and a research fellow at the Broadbent Institute (PressProgress is an editorially independent division of the institute.)

They discuss promising models for healthcare already deployed in some parts of the country (team-based care!) and the acute threats the system is facing elsewhere, particularly in Alberta.

You can also read the interview here.

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Late last month, thousands of Calgarians trekked to Stampede Park to pledge their support for Alberta separation. Trekking there, too, was our Alberta reporter, Stephen Magusiak.

Unfortunately, he didn't get to stay for long.

Before the rally even started — and just after he interviewed one of the organizers — Stephen was unceremoniously removed.

They evidently didn't like his questions.

On the new Sources, Stephen talks about what went down, and why the Alberta separatist movement feels more confident than ever.

Links

• "Alberta Separatists Kicked Us Out of Their Event After Asking About American Support" (PressProgress, Jan. 30, 2026)

• "The Albertans Counting on America to Help Break Apart Canada" (PressProgress, July 25, 2025)

• "Alberta Independence Rally in Calgary" livestream (Freedom Calendar on YouTube, Jan. 26, 2026)

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More than 100 students have been stuck in limbo as they wait for the Canadian government to approve the visas that would allow them to come here for graduate school. At least 26 universities across the country have accepted them into a wide range of programs. But there's something the students have in common: they live in, or are from, Gaza.

The Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk Network (PSSAR) has been sounding the alarm about the unusual delays, while some of the applicants remain in places that have been, and continue to be, bombed. They say the response from the federal government — particularly from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — has been wanting.

On this episode of Sources, Nada El-Falou, PSSAR's director of student services, joins Ontario reporter Eric Wickham to discuss how Canada's inaction is endangering these students, and what can be done to get their visas finally approved.

Links

• CBC Radio's The Morning Edition - K-W – "Hear Sally Ghazi Ibaid’s audio submission to the University of Waterloo" (Dec. 18, 2024)

• PressProgress – “More Than 100 Gazans Have Been Accepted to Canadian Universities. Canada Isn’t Letting Them In.” (Jan. 27, 2026)

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