Digital Policy Salon: Settling for More

Nathan Snider, Maryna Ivus and Akshay Kotak discuss Canada’s digital economy and share some insights from the research behind the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC)‘s flagship report, Onwards and Upwards: Digital Talent Outlook 2025.

Overview articles summarize findings from a full-length study. 

This first-of-its kind study examines Canada’s evolving healthcare landscape as technology becomes a mainstay of the digital future.

This study includes:

Healthcare spending in Canada is expected to rise in the coming years, whereas Canada’s ability to adequately meet the costs of healthcare is uncertain.

This report also addresses how the healthcare sector can continue to serve a growing and aging population while managing costs, modernizing healthcare, and adopting new technologies.

Read the full overview here 📝

A robust green economy can help enable continued growth and prosperity while limiting environmental impacts like climate change and environmental degradation. On February 2nd, join Ander Eizaguirre, Paul Shorthouse, Noah Baars, and Antonina Konarzewska for their “Circular Economy” session as part of our Green Economy track at ICTC Horizon!

Register today 💡

COVID-19 forced a massive shift to phone and online consultations. With new freedoms come new frustrations.

A virtual doctor’s appointment typically takes only fifteen minutes, while travelling to a clinic, paying for parking, and waiting around can take hours. The shift to virtual care could lead to better access for people who don’t have paid time off, people who live in remote communities, and people with disabilities. For residents of long-term care facilities, telemedicine and assessing early symptoms can decrease the chance of down-the-line hospitalization, which can be exhausting and comes with its own risk of catching a dangerous infection. Several virtual “emergency rooms” have also popped up in parts of the country. Patients worried about urgent but non-life-threatening issues, like sprains, stings, and sinus infections, can sign up online, get a link to a video call, and speak with an ER doctor the same day, without clogging up waiting rooms.

Many of these changes are here to stay. This summer, a survey by the CMA and Canada Health Infoway, a federally funded not-for-profit organization that works to accelerate the adoption of digital care, found that the majority of physicians plan to keep using this type of care once the pandemic has receded. In Ontario and British Columbia, the provincial governments are negotiating the payment systems that will allow doctors to continue charging for virtual visits. Other provinces are expected to follow suit.

On the surface, the way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed us toward a system of virtual health can only be seen as a bright spot in an otherwise grim period of history. If nothing else, initial, virtual appointments with a doctor mean not spending time in the close quarters of a waiting room with other sick patients.

If only things were so straightforward, however. The article highlights many challenges associated with developing a high-quality virtual health system: safeguarding privacy, advancing broadband infrastructure and thus access to healthcare for rural and Indigenous communities, and—perhaps most pressing—ensuring that patient information exchange and coordination is streamlined. Many of the answers to these challenges will come with time. The sudden, widespread uptake of remote health was not systematic and scheduled, it was done out of necessity. If a system of virtual health is going to thrive in Canada, rather than serve as a stop-gap reaction to the pandemic, careful attention will be necessary. ICTC’s Digital Transformation: The Next Big Leap in Healthcare considers some of theses challenges and opportunities. - Khiran O'Neill

Each year, Canada attracts large numbers of internationally educated professionals who have skills and experience suited to the digital economy. Unfortunately, this talent is often underutilized, adversely impacting the economy and the newcomers. For example, unrecognized foreign credentials contribute to a net loss of $13.4 to $17 billion in Canadian earnings, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

At the same time, Alberta’s digital economy has weathered the pandemic better than other sectors and continues to grow, with a high demand for talent. ICTC’s research findings anticipate that employment in Alberta’s digital economy will reach 203,000 by 2025.

ICTC’s new report, Settling for More: Matching Newcomers to Alberta’s Tech Sector, investigates how to enhance newcomer integration into Alberta’s digital economy. It examines current labour supply and demand, and offers potential solutions to six key challenges faced by newcomers, such as:

Read the full study here 📖