Federal

Ontario is moving to become only the second province in Canada to ban payments for blood and plasma, but the Toronto-based business that is the target of the proposed law intends to begin limited collection of plasma next week regardless. The provincial Liberal government announced Friday that it would introduce legislation making it illegal to […]

Ontario Introducing Legislation to Prohibit Paying Donors for Blood and Plasma, March 14, 2014 – Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. Ontario intends to introduce legislation to preserve the integrity of the province’s voluntary blood and plasma donation system. If passed, the new legislation would: – Prohibit payments to individuals for their blood and plasma including reimbursement […]

A pay-for-plasma clinic is opening a downtown Toronto clinic Tuesday to begin training staff in defiance of promised legislation from Ontario’s minority Liberal government that would ban it. Canadian Plasma Resources will have 15 staff — including medical lab technicians and registered nurses — at its Adelaide St. location and expects to have donors on […]

A company that has tried to establish three pay-for-plasma operations in the Greater Toronto Area says it’s halting a $400 million expansion planned for Ontario and taking it to western Canada due to this province’s intention to ban paid blood donations. Toronto-based Canadian Plasma Resources says it had planned to open 10 plasma collection centres […]

Ontario’s new health minister is going ahead with legislation to ban pay-for-plasma clinics —including one set to open in Hamilton. “We will be reintroducing this bill in the upcoming session,” said Samantha Grant, spokesperson for Health Minister Dr. Eric Hoskins. Bill 178, the Voluntary Blood Donations Act, was introduced by former health minister Deb Matthews […]

Health Canada has received an application by an private for-profit company to operate two plasma collection sites in Toronto. This comes on the heels of Canadian Blood Services closing down its last dedicated plasma collection site in Thunder Bay last week. The company, ExaPharma, appears to be run by members of the Toronto Iranian community, […]