Higher Education and Leadership

 The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.

The Google AI overview on the topic “The Trump administration has reduced funding for health and education” presented the following summary drawing on information from the Center for American Progress.

The Trump administration (as of mid-2026) has proposed and implemented significant cuts to health and education, aiming to reduce federal spending by billions, targeting agencies like the CDC and NIH while seeking to eliminate specific education grants. Proposed budgets include slashing CDC funding by up to 50% and reducing NIH funding by over 10%.

On April 3, 2026, President Donald Trump submitted his annual budget request to Congress, calling for historic cuts to domestic funding and shifting that money toward historic increases in the military budget. Across steep cuts to education, housing, health, and other priorities, the budget calls for cutting nondefense discretionary funding—the portion of the budget that funds most domestic activities aside from Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—to its lowest levels as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) since at least the Eisenhower administration. In contrast, the Trump administration’s budget calls for the biggest annual increase in the military budget as a share of GDP outside a ground war in U.S. history—and the largest increase inclusive of ground wars in more than 50 years. Within the context of the war in Iran, the budget should be seen as taking money away from Americans and sinking it into war. (Miller, n.d.)

The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. AP reported that Donald Trump decisively won Nevada's Republican caucuses for his third straight victory in February 2016. Trump told supporters in Las Vegas that he got votes from well educated and poorly educated people, adding "I love the poorly educated." (Feb. 24, 2016).

The leaders in Canada and Mexico may not be recipients of the love of the President for the poorly educated.

References

Miller, A. (n.d.). About Us. Center for American Progress. Retrieved June 10, 2026, from https://www.americanprogress.org/about-us/

UBI and Quality Public Services

What needs of the public should be addressed as necessities in our modern urban societies? In Canada, basic levels of healthcare and education are provided as universal public services. In a modern society, we need to consider housing, transport, social care and access to information as necessities that would benefit the whole society if they were provided at some level as a public service.

UBI or Universal Public Service for Housing

Anna Coote is principal fellow at the New Economics Foundation and co-author of Universal Basic Income: A Union Perspective (Public Services International) with Edanur Yazici. 

The report concludes that the money needed to pay for an adequate UBI scheme “would be better spent on reforming social protection systems, and building more and better-quality public services”. Redistributing the personal tax allowance and developing the idea of universal basic services (UBS) could offer a more promising alternative. This calls for more and better quality public services that are free to those who need them, regardless of ability to pay. Healthcare and education are obvious examples, and it is argued that a similar approach should be applied to areas such as transport, housing, social care and information – everyday essentials that should be available to all. Collective provision offers more cost-effective, socially just, redistributive and sustainable ways of meeting people’s needs than leaving individuals to buy what they can afford in the marketplace. (Coote, 2019)

Jaela Bernstien, is a Montreal-based journalist who covers climate change and the environment for CBC's online, radio and TV news programs. With over a decade of experience, her work has won several awards including a 2023 National RTDNA award, a 2023 Gold Digital Publishing Award, and a 2018 CAJ award for labour reporting.

In 2018, the government of British Columbia asked a panel of experts to study the feasibility of a basic income for the province. The resulting report found that "the needs of people in this society are too diverse to be effectively answered simply with a cheque from the government."

Panel chair David Green, a labour economist and a professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of B.C., said the better solution is to reform the programs that already exist.

"If our problem is really, the full heterogeneous, complex issue of poverty — how do we make a more just society — then, in many cases, sending people a cheque and hoping they will do better is not going to answer the problem," 

Green said it would be better to tackle issues head-on, targeting poor working conditions and low wages, reforming the disability assistance program and boosting rent assistance. (Bernstien, 2021)

Guy Standing is professorial research associate at SOAS University of London. His new book is ‘The Blue Commons: Rescuing the Economy of the Sea’ (Pelican, 2022). He is a technical adviser to the basic income pilot being conducted by the government of Wales.

It's time for advocates of ‘Universal Basic Services’ to stop juxtaposing the idea of more and better public services with giving people basic income security.

Psychologists have found that basic security increases people’s IQ, and makes people more altruistic, tolerant, cooperative and productive, as workers and as citizens. Sadly, most economists and policymakers have given no value to basic security. A basic income would do so, whereas the menu of mainly targeted services being offered under the title of UBS would not. An income-insecure person with access to a free bus ride or even childcare or broadband would remain insecure.

Ultimately, there is no contradiction between having some public quasi-universal basic services and a basic income. They address different needs and stem from different rationales. But having cash enhances freedom of choice, is potentially more empowering and can be more transformative. I plead with those advocating ‘Universal Basic Services’ to stop juxtaposing the idea of more and better public services with giving people basic income security. (Standing, 2019)

 Jaela Bernstien reports that like economists, Canada's main parties are also divided on basic income, though none are promising universal basic income. Here's where they stand:

 

(Bernstien, 2021)

There is much to consider in the best approach to provide transport, housing, social care and information as basic necessities for people in an urban information society.

 

References

Bernstien, J. (2021, September 19). What is basic income and which of Canada's main parties support it? CBC. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada-how-basic-income-works-1.6179760 

Coote, A. (2019, May 6). Universal basic income doesn't work. Let's boost the public realm instead | Anna Coote. The Guardian. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/06/universal-basic-income-public-realm-poverty-inequality 

Standing, G. (2019, June 6). Why 'Universal Basic Services' is no alternative to Basic Income. openDemocracy. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/why-universal-basic-services-is-no-alternative-to-basic-income/ 

Windfall and Social Need

Stephen Kimber reports on the response of NDP leader Claudia Chender to Premier Tim Houston’s government unaccountable spending of its unexpected revenue.

Windfall Money has needs to fill

Nova Scotia, as the auditor general pointed out, is the only jurisdiction in the country where such “extra spending is approved solely by the government of the day and is never required to return to the House of Assembly for review, vote, or approval.”

What should have happened to that windfall? That wasn’t even discussed in the latest session.

According to NDP leader Chender, the government’s unaccountable spending of its unexpected revenue “utterly fails to address the cost of living, utterly fails to address the housing crisis that we have before us, the increasing doctor waitlist, increasing surgical waitlist… We have a massive amount of money going out the door and we don’t really have anything to show for it.” (Kimber, n.d.)

The four areas identified by NDP leader Chender as needing attention in Nova Scotia are high on the priority list of many citizens. The expectation of many voters is that government funds need to be utilized to address these crises. Perhaps voters need to ascertain if an ideological distaste for government action in these areas is causing unnecessary stress and suffering for our population.

References

Kimber, S. (n.d.). Halifax Examiner Article. Stephen Kimber. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://stephenkimber.com/tim-houstons-idea-of-accountability-then-and-now/ 

Health Homes and Climate

The relationships between health services, housing needs, and the climate crisis are many. The tension between market based action and government control in these areas compels us to carefully analyze trends and progress.

Health and Housing in Climate Crisis

The Ottawa Citizen reports on privatization of orthopedic surgery that may be impacting staffing for hospital health care. Elizabeth Payne reports:

“We are not able to provide the service we want for oncology patients because nurses are working in a higher paid environment,” said the unnamed source. “My view is that this is confirming the concerns that we are limited in terms of the service we can provide in the public system because nurses are obviously being poached by this private clinic.” (Payne, 2023)

Nicole Munro, at Saltwire, contributes an article on West End Mall redevelopment in Halifax.

By the time the master plan is finished, Coun. Shawn Cleary (Halifax West Armdale) said, the inclusionary zoning bylaw should be in place at about the same time, giving HRM the power to ensure there is a percentage of affordable units included.

While Cleary suspects most of the units will be market-based rents, he said the inclusionary zoning bylaw would allow some affordable units.

“We’ll have the power to actually say, ‘No, no, you don’t have a choice. You’re going to have this per cent of those units that have to be affordable.’” (Halifax's West End Mall Redevelopment Will Go on Despite Pushback, Councillor Says, 2023)

Matt McGrath, environment correspondent for BBC News, contributes an article about fossil fuel emissions falling in worldwide electricity generation.

One significant player impacting the overall trend is China. Around 50% of the global addition of wind power came from China and about 40% of the world's new solar came from from the country that's also the world's biggest use of coal power.

"There is a chance that at the rate that China is building wind and solar and all types of clean generation, that they achieve that peak in coal generation earlier than 2025, which would be significant," said Mr Jones.

Energy experts acknowledge that curbing fossil fuels in power generation could well be a "turning point", but much more remains to be done. (McGrath, 2023)

We monitor important trends as we ponder the best economic approach to address these serious concerns that impact the common good.

References

Halifax's West End Mall redevelopment will go on despite pushback, councillor says. (2023, April 12). SaltWire. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/business/halifaxs-west-end-mall-redevelopment-will-go-on-despite-pushback-councillor-says-100843479/ 

McGrath, M. (2023, April 11). Climate change: Fossil fuel emissions from electricity set to fall - report. BBC. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65240094 

Payne, E. (2023, March 21). Surgeries at for-profit orthopedic clinic already impacting hospital staffing, some insiders say. Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved April 14, 2023, from https://ottawacitizen.com/news/surgeries-at-for-profit-orthopedic-clinic-already-impacting-hospital-staffing-some-insiders-say 

Help for Health Housing Here

Government budgets have recently provided some attention to the crisis in health and housing that we are experiencing across Canada.

Housing Options in HRM

The challenge of providing primary health care to Nova Scotians is evidenced by over 100,000 people who have no family physician.

Doctor Parking Empty

Some Governments have promised bonus payments to health care professionals to retain them in positions that are becoming increasingly challenging as workload increases.

Bonus for long hours with short staff

The path to timely resolution of these challenges to our assumption that Canada is a wealthy progressive society that can take care of the needs of it’s residents may require us to decide in which ballpark we can expect to find help.

Consider Health and Housing as Human Right

In healthcare, jurisdictions across Canada have sought the help of entrepreneurial enterprises who have provided resources for virtual access to primary care and supplemental diagnostic testing and surgery services. The principals of these organizations use the language of “target market” and “customer” in describing their operations. 

Health and Housing is a Right Here

A nation of 11 Million that is a very popular sun destination for Canadians, the Republic of Cuba, has defined health care and housing as rights for it’s citizens in its constitution. During the Obama administration, the loosening of the US Embargo on Cuba saw the flourishing of a small market economy and increased tourist and economic involvement with the United States. The Trump administration reversed the Obama policy and took aggressive action to severely inhibit economic activity between the US and Cuba.

Canada has a much better relationship with Cuba and many Canadian visitors have encountered well educated Cubans working in the resort industry. Surprisingly, the largest source of government income in Cuba is not from tourism but from export of medical services to countries in the Global South.

Canadians encounter well educated Cubans

The government's responsibility to maintain health and housing as a right for residents in Cuba has necessitated maintaining a high quality education system that supports health and economic development in the country.

On the road to Havana

Health and housing are too essential to the success of a society to be left to the market that best serves profit and short term gain for shareholders rather than community needs that are long term. Healthy, educated people with housing are essential to maintain our health, education, and business infrastructure. 

Canadians can learn from Cuba that government support to create health care and housing as a right for people is a wise investment in creating the healthy educated community that is required to build the infrastructure that is now required in Canada as we prepare to address the transitions required to respond to the climate crisis and the worldwide migration emergency.

New Waterford Community Hub sets the bar high for primary care

An update on ideas about a Health Care and Education Community Campus model ( Friday, November 4, 2022) are reflected in the plans for building the New Waterford Community Hub.

 CBRM Health Care Redevelopment Project,

As part of the CBRM Health Care Redevelopment Project, New Waterford and the surrounding area will have a new, modern health centre and a 60-bed long-term care home. Both will be built on the Breton Education Centre school site, along with a new, modern school, creating a community hub. The project also includes 12 (sub-acute) short-stay beds.

The community hub model (health centre, long-term care home, and school) will create hands-on learning opportunities and new programming for students in health-care related fields. It also allows for opportunities to share facilities and maintenance services. (New Waterford Community Hub – Building Tomorrow, n.d.)

This plan that brings primary and secondary health care to communities under an education-like structure will elevate the general health of the province, reduce overall health care cost, and increase equity in access to care.

References

New Waterford Community Hub – Building Tomorrow. (n.d.). Building Tomorrow. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://building-tomorrow.ca/projects/new-waterford-community-hub/ 

Healthcare in Nova Scotia and Kenya

As Nova Scotia prepares to welcome continuing care assistant health care professionals from Kenya to increase the number of primary care workers in our Province, at a time when we are in serious need of more support for our residents, we may, at the same time, be reducing the ability of the healthcare system in Kenya to respond to health needs in that country.

Help for Health Care

The World Population Review website has published rankings of the world’s health care systems by Lisa Brown writing in CEOWORLD magazine, a highly-respected business publication covering everything important to ​CEOs, senior executives, business leaders, and high net worth individuals, from business to finance, politics to economics, lifestyle to travel, both at home in the United States and globally.

Rank	Country	Health Care Index (Overall)	Infrastructure	Professionals	Cost	Medicine Availability	Readiness
1	South Korea	78.72	87.16	14.23	83.59	82.3	87.89
2	Taiwan	77.7	79.05	13.06	78.39	78.99	65.09
3	Denmark	74.11	90.75	30.01	82.59	92.06	96.3
23	Canada	48.64	62.39	16.89	55.73	52.91	89.75
70	Kenya	35.16	69.92	16.86	53.1	51.23	89.62
71	Kuwait	35.09	89.14	15.32	70.55	89.2	88.98
72	Dominican Republic	34.97	66.12	21.08	51.05	62.85	92.5
89	Venezuela	32.42	71.39	17.16	52.53	53.7	89.84

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Partial list from Countries With The Best Health Care Systems

Canada is rated at number 23 in this list and Kenya is number 70. Professionals in health care are rated at just below 17 for both countries. (Brown, 2021)

These numbers beg the question about the effect on Kenya by the immigration of skilled and capable health professionals to Nova Scotia.

Lara Yacoub and Solomon Johnson writing for Spheres of Influence, a non-profit digital publication dedicated to highlighting underreported stories in global affairs and amplifying marginalized voices, report on what the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps means for residents.

Health Care, for example, is an area of particular concern due to the loss of services that many refugees rely on. According to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in Dagahaley alone, one of the three divisions of the ​​Dadaab refugee complex, over 300 people require regular medication for “chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and a variety of cancers, as well as neurological disorders.” 

Additionally in Dagahaley, about 50 people “require continued care for diabetes,” including the supply of insulin, a medication many are likely to not have access to after the closure of these camps. MSF also carries out about 700 “life-saving surgeries per year in this area of the camp, such as vital cesarean sections for mothers. (Yacoub & Johnson, 2022)

The Nova Scotia Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment / Labour, Skills and Immigration

has announced that more continuing care assistants will soon be moving to Nova Scotia to work, the result of a recent recruiting trip to Kenya. 

“One of the biggest challenges we face is finding the right healthcare professionals to fill the vacancies we have across Nova Scotia,” said Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson, the Minister responsible for the Office of Healthcare Professionals Recruitment. “There are talented and skilled people around the world who would love to come here, and we would love to have them.”

The Province led the trip to a Kenyan refugee camp in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Health Association of Nova Scotia, and MacLeod Group, which provides senior care across Atlantic Canada, as well as refugee-focused charities The Shapiro Foundation and RefugePoint.

The new continuing care assistants are expected to start arriving in mid-2023 and will work in the continuing care sector in communities across the province. (Healthcare Workers Coming to Nova Scotia From Kenya, 2023)

The details of the possibility of refugee health care personnel to find work in Kenya, the possibility of education and experience in Canada for the refugees to return to Kenya better equipped to serve that country, and the degree to which we value the choice of these refugees to choose life in Canada even if they are in greater need in East Africa, are some of the ethical and moral aspects of this emigration that helps first world Canada and may disadvantage people of the Global South.

References

Brown, L. (2021, April 27). Revealed: Countries With The Best Health Care Systems, 2021. CEOWORLD magazine. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://ceoworld.biz/2021/04/27/revealed-countries-with-the-best-health-care-systems-2021/ 

Healthcare Workers Coming to Nova Scotia from Kenya. (2023, January 4). Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20230104001 

Yacoub, L., & Johnson, S. (2022, February 10). What the Closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma Refugee Camps Means for Residents. Spheres of Influence. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://spheresofinfluence.ca/what-the-closure-of-the-dadaab-and-kakuma-refugee-camps-means-for-residents/