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Wednesday July 31, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday July 31, 2019

U.S. demand is threatening Canada’s drug supply, groups warn feds

Concern over U.S. legislation that allows Americans to import cheaper medicines from Canada has prompted more than a dozen organizations to urge the federal government to safeguard the Canadian drug supply.

June 13, 2019

In a letter this week, the 15 groups representing patients, health professionals, hospitals, and pharmacists warn Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor of the potential for increasing drug shortages.

“The Canadian medicine supply is not sufficient to support both Canadian and U.S. consumers,” the letter states. “The supply simply does not, and will not, exist within Canada to meet such demands.”

Faced with voter anger over the steep and rising costs of drugs in the U.S., several states — including Florida with the blessing of President Donald Trump — have passed laws allowing residents to import drugs from Canada.

In the letter to Petitpas Taylor, the groups say the legislation could exacerbate drug shortages that become an increasingly serious concern in the Canadian health care system in recent years.

“Hospital and community pharmacies in Canada are resourced to serve the Canadian public,” they say. “They are not equipped to support to the needs of a country 10 times its size without creating important access or quality issues.”

Petitpas Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The issue has recently garnered attention on both sides of the border. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, has announced plans to accompany diabetics this weekend to Canada to buy life-saving insulin, which costs roughly one tenth the price here than in the United States. (CBC) 

 

Thursday January 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday January 24, 2019

Canada’s ambassador to China says Meng has strong defence to fight extradition

Canada’s top diplomat in China says the Huawei executive arrested in Vancouver at the request of the United States has a strong case to fight extradition, a position that has prompted backlash from the Conservative opposition in Ottawa who say this sort of interference by an ambassador should not be tolerated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

January 10, 2019

Meng Wanzhou, the 46-year-old chief financial officer of the telecom giant, has “quite good arguments on her side,” John McCallum said at a news conference with Canadian and state-owned Chinese-language media in Markham, Ont., on Tuesday.

“One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case. Two, there’s an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there’s the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions. So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge,” he said in his opening remarks.

McCallum said a judge will ultimately make the decision on whether she should be extradited, and stressed there has been “zero involvement” by the federal government.

“It’s purely a judicial process. There may come a time when the justice minister is required to give a view, but that will not be for some months to come,” he said.

November 12, 2015

“I know this has angered China, but we have a system of extradition treaty, a system of rules of law, which are above the government. The government cannot change these things, and as I said, I think Ms. Meng has quite a strong case.”

Despite those assurances, the Liberal government to this point has not weighed in on the merits of the case or offered an opinion on the possible legal avenues her counsel could pursue in court.

In fact, before McCallum’s remarks Tuesday, the government had studiously avoided discussing the facts of the case in public. (Source: CBC) 

 

Wednesday June 7, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 7, 2017

Canada faces new world order in the face of dramatic change, says Chrystia Freeland

Canada is facing a new world order threatened by climate change, Daesh extremists, Russian aggression and the reality that many Americans want to “shrug off the burden of world leadership,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday.

November 12, 2016

In what was billed as a major speech on Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland sketched out the challenges the country faces today and the role it aspires to play.

She acknowledged the dramatic changes unfolding in Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pulled out of a global climate change pact, assailed NATO alliance for not pulling its fair share and talked up protectionist trade barriers.

While Freeland called the United States the “indispensable nation” in the postwar world order, those times may be coming to an end.

In laying out Canada’s foreign policy priorities, Freeland said that Ottawa will “robustly” support the rules-based international order and its institutions.

February 10, 2017

Those include G7, the G20, APEC, the Commonwealth and La Francophonie, NATO and the UN, she said.

In those forums, Canada will promote Canadian values that include feminism, and the promotion of the rights of women and girls, Freeland said.

Freeland also pledged that the Liberal government will boost investments in the military “to not only redress years of neglect and underfunding, but also to place the Canadian Armed Forces on a new footing—with the equipment, training, resources and consistent, predictable financing.”

October 20, 2016

The third pillar of Canada’s foreign policy will be trade, starting with the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and renewed efforts to diversify trade worldwide,” she said.

Freeland highlighted Canada’s past roles on the world stage, in diplomatic circles and battlefields, from Europe to Korea to Afghanistan.

But the global order is changing in unprecedented ways, she said, with the emergence of the global south and Asia, notably China. That brings the need to integrate these countries into the world’s economic and political system “in a way that is additive, that preserves the best of the old order that preceded their rise, and that addresses the existential threat of climate change,” she said. (Source: Toronto Star)

 

Friday, October 18, 2013

Friday, October 18, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, October 18, 2013

World heaves sigh of relief as US barely averts debt default

Political leaders, investors and ordinary people Thursday welcomed the end of a U.S. government shutdown but already were looking ahead to the next round of a budget battle that brought the world’s biggest economy close to default and threatens Washington’s international standing.

From the MacKayCartoons BoutiqueThe deal approved late Wednesday by Congress, with hours to go before the government reached its $16.7 trillion debt limit, only permits the Treasury to borrow through Feb. 7 and fund government through Jan. 15. The International Monetary Fund appealed to Washington for more stable long-term management of the nation’s finances.
The standoff rattled global markets and threatened the image of U.S. Treasury debt as a risk-free place for governments and investors to store trillions of dollars in reserve.

Few expected a default but some investors sold Treasurys over concern about possible payment delays and put off buying stocks that might be exposed to an American economic downturn.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde welcomed the deal but said the shaky American economy needs more stable long-term finances.

“It will be essential to reduce uncertainty surrounding the conduct of fiscal policy by raising the debt limit in a more durable manner,” Lagarde said in a statement.
The Tokyo stock market, Asia’s heavyweight, gained 0.8 percent Thursday. Markets in South Korea, Australia and Southeast Asia also rose.
Such relief might be only temporary without a long-term settlement, said Standard Chartered economist Samiran Chakraborty in Mumbai. (Source: Associated Press)