Happened to me many times. Sometimes they let me wear it over my (certified) N95, sometimes they don't.

Wouldn't that just be because of protocol, ie. they don't know if you, a member of the public, actually have a legit N95 mask, or if you know how to correctly implement it, etc.

Incidentally, if you want to validate 3M N95 masks, 3M has a web site for that.[1] You type in the code on the bottom of the box and 3M checks it. You can only do this once per code; the site will tell you if a valid code has been used before. They suggest signing and dating the box after doing this, to indicate that check has been done.

[1] https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/worker-health-safety-us/3m-safeg...

They never required we remove a mask.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/outbreak-at-quebec-city-gym-link...

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm

https://elpais.com/especiales/coronavirus-covid-19/a-room-a-...

Maybe they coughed over shared food/drink trays.

Unlike other nations like Germany and Estonia, Canada's healthcare system is fully dependent on the provincial government to exist and be funded. If I'm not mistaken, in the two countries I mentioned, clinics can get private funding while providing universal access in most cases, which means they have a larger buffer between the political whims of the state, and their ability to provide service. If the state under-provides, the clinics can seek investors to cover the new costs, all the while maintaining universal coverage.

That's not something Canadians can do. Talk of any private involvement, or restructuring in general, in Canada's healthcare system is often very politically charged and not particularly honest, so change is not happening any time soon.

I suspect the issue here is that the hospitals know that having HEPA filters would be a good idea, but political will isn't there to give them what they need. Canadian politics on both sides lately has been more about the appearance of progress through large gestures, rather than careful consideration of long term solutions. It's very unfortunate.

Given that the federal government is responsible for funding much/most of the provincial health care system, they have some input into how things operate. Most provinces have a good handle on covid unless their government went too deep into the "covid is over" bit (Alberta, Saskatchewan). The covid response here was delayed due to the need to secure vaccines from others, but the end result has been quite good.

I have lived all over N America, and the freedom/flexibility of the Canadian health system has been better than anywhere except St. Louis, MO when I was there - and that required full-time employment.

Yes, I am a Canadian. I lived there for 25 years. I have Canadian citizenship. Most of my family still lives there. I also ended up stuck in Ontario for most of COVID. I have family in Ontario, in Quebec, and elsewhere in the country. I don't think Ontario had a very good handle on COVID. It's also no secret that Canada is suffering a major staffing, and funding shortage in the healthcare sector right now.

While most of your reply is about dentists (I'll get to that later), I see you're comparing Canada's healthcare system to the USA. I'm not. Compared to other systems in NA, yes, it's much better since it's free and somewhat fair. But that's the problem. Canadians should be looking to other developed nations with public healthcare. Not to the United States which operates on a completely different paradigm. My comment that you're replying to is entirely contrasting Canadian healthcare with EU systems, not Americans.

> dental office reopened

The majority of dentists are private entities, and are not subject to the same funding rules as hospitals. They're not licensed through the same entities, funded, or managed in the same way at all. Likely why they were able to adapt so quickly. See: https://www.cda-adc.ca/stateoforalhealth/servicescanada/

> [..] they checked vaccination status and accepted the mask she walked in with.

I'm not really sure what you're getting at here, this does not really relate to funding, or anything I'm talking about really. This is more about safety policy, not funding, which is what I'm trying to discuss.

Don't get me wrong, I've had some good experiences with the system as well, but that does not mean it shouldn't significantly improved.

Could you be conflating talks about "privatization" (allowing private clinics to exist and take OHIP) with private healthcare payments (you don't get OHIP) by mistake? Those two are not really the same at all, but get conflated in the media often.

That last part there about Ottawa or Ontario, not sure which one, doesn't really make much sense, sorry. It's unclear what you're getting at. Nothing there really sounds related to what I'm talking about.