policy

Friday September 3, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 3, 2021

Pharmacare AWOL in 2021

June 13, 2019

Nearly a quarter century ago, the federal government hosted a conference on national pharmacare in Saskatoon – the birthplace of Canadian medicare. The meeting was extraordinarily frustrating to delegates who anticipated action, not talk, at the time.

We know because we were there.

You see, that Saskatoon meeting was held on the heels of Prime Minister Chrétien’s 1997 National Forum on Health. Echoing previous national commissions, the forum recommended the implementation of a universal, comprehensive, public pharmacare program to work alongside Canadian medicare.

April 22, 2021

Yet, there we were, an audience of approximately 300 health professionals, experts, public representatives and stakeholders gathered to “engage in dialogue” on an issue that already had a very clear answer.

The national pharmacare system recommended would have reduced Canadian drug costs dramatically, meaning savings for governments, businesses and households. More Canadians would have access to medicines because they would be fully covered, but manufacturers would no longer be able to charge more in Canada than they did in comparable countries.

October 21, 2016

Drug companies preferred that Canada adopt a system of mandatory private insurance based on the model they had just convinced the Quebec government to implement in 1997 — at great cost to Quebec households and businesses. Insurers favoured the Quebec model too – what industry wouldn’t want people to be legally required to purchase their products without regulations on profit margins?

In 2019, the Liberals campaigned on a promise to act on pharmacare plan. Such a national pharmacare system was mentioned in the 2020 Throne Speech, Budget 2021 and 2021 mandate letters. But there has been little concrete action toward implementation.

Instead, the federal government has reverted yet again to “stakeholder engagement,” rather than policy action. (Red Deer Advocate) 

 

Tuesday January 28, 2020

January 28, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 28, 2020

Peter MacKay launches his campaign promising to unify and expand Conservative Party

Peter MacKay officially launched his leadership campaign on Saturday with a speech that emphasized his experience on the world stage, and promised to unify and expand the Conservative Party ahead of the next election.

Peter MacKay Cartoon Gallery

“Together we’ll expand outward that big blue tent, while strengthening its solid poles of conservative principle,” he said in a speech in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, the area which he represented in Parliament from 1997 to 2015.

“I stand here before you today with my heart on my sleeve for every Canadian, whoever you love, wherever you live,” he said.

The speech leaned heavily on MacKay’s experience in senior cabinet roles during Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, particularly his time as foreign affairs minister and defence minister. While pitching himself as a Prime Minister in waiting, he also took shots at Justin Trudeau.

He said Canada and the planet are facing “big challenges with big complicated questions,” but the current Liberal government is “shrugging and often doing more harm than good, virtue signalling without action.”

However, there were no specific policy proposals in the speech. Notably, the speech made no mention of climate change, instead discussing the general importance of protecting the environment.

“We’re stewards of the environment,” he said. “The greatest gift that we’ve received as Canadians, alongside our freedom and democracy, is our natural splendour of land and sea.”

May 2, 2019

MacKay is widely seen as the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race, which will end June 27 in Toronto. His main competition, at least for the time being, is expected to be Ontario MP Erin O’Toole. O’Toole is launching is campaign Monday in Alberta.

Three high-profile potential contenders for the Conservative leadership race — Jean Charest, Rona Ambrose and Pierre Poilieve — all dropped out over the past week. However, candidates still have until Feb. 27 to enter the race, so others may come forward.

Other candidates who have declared their intention to run include Ontario MPs Marilyn Gladu and Derek Sloan, Alberta businessman Rick Peterson, and former Conservative staffer Richard Decarie. (National Post) 

 

Thursday May 2, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday May 2, 2019

Where is your climate change plan? Liberal ministers ask Scheer

The House of Commons resumed sitting on Monday for what’s set to be an intense session before Parliament adjourns for the last time before the federal election will be called, and the governing Liberals came out swinging bright and early against Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

April 2, 2019

Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and Finance Minister Bill Morneau began their day criticizing their main opponent for his lack of a climate plan. Meanwhile, Scheer was elsewhere on the Hill doing the same over the government’s approach to current trade tensions with China.

At issue specifically for the Liberal ministers: Scheer’s lack of a climate change plan, despite his consistent attacks on the government’s imposition of a federal price on carbon — up to $50 per excess tonne by 2022 — in provinces who don’t implement their own. The federal Conservatives say the government’s plan is little more than a “tax grab.”

It was exactly a year ago, on April 29, 2018 during a sit-down interview on CTV’s Question Period, Scheer said that he would be unveiling a climate plan ahead of the 2019 election that will meet the Paris targets without a carbon tax.

September 20, 2016

Asked whether the plan will meet the UN targets for combating climate change, otherwise known as Paris Agreement, Scheer said “of course.”

The Paris agreement sets out an international plan to limit global warming to below two degrees.

“I will unveil a plan that reaches the targets that we have already voted in favour of,” Scheer said at the time.

In June 2017, Scheer and his caucus voted in support of the Canadian government implementing the Paris Agreement, stating it was in the best interest of Canadians and recognizing that climate change is a global issue.

Though, eight months later it was on CTV’s Question Period again where he walked back that promise. He could not commit that his plan would mean the targets, instead he said his plan would have “meaningful reductions.” (Source: CTV News) 

 

Tuesday January 15, 2019

Tuesday January 14, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 15, 2019

What — and who — comes after Rahaf Mohammed?

If Canada were a proud and principled beacon unto the world’s most downtrodden, as so many so often claim, then one might have expected Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun to arrive at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Saturday with relatively little fanfare.

August 8, 2018

Canada resettles tens of thousands of refugees every year, after all, and many are fleeing circumstances just as horrific as the Saudi teenager’s abuse by her family. Canadian government officials are guarding Alqunun’s current whereabouts partly on grounds she might still be in danger even halfway around the world — an idea given credence by Dennis Horak, who was Canada’s ambassador in Riyadh until he was expelled over the summer.

Indeed, Saudi-Canadian relations are not in terrific shape just at the moment, thanks to our public rebukes of its treatment of activists, and granting immediate asylum to the world’s highest-profile Saudi refugee seems unlikely to help matters. One might very reasonably not give a damn about the House of Saud’s amour propre, but Ottawa would clearly prefer to repair those relations. Quite apart from anything else, it would give Canada more-than-zero leverage in lobbying on behalf of those activists — including imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, whose wife is a Canadian citizen.

There were no good reasons to make a big show of Alqunun’s arrival, in other words, and plenty of good reasons not to. Furthermore, Justin Trudeau has been very clear about what he thinks of using refugees as political props. He was at his most thespian back in 2015 when it was alleged Stephen Harper’s office had been sifting through applications from Syrian asylum-seekers in search of potential photo ops.

“That’s DIS-GUST-ING,” Trudeau hissed at a campaign stop in Richmond, B.C. “That’s not the Canada we want; that’s not the Canada we need to build.”

In the end, though, there was Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland with her arm draped around Alqunun, announcing that this “brave new Canadian” would not be taking questions. Luckily, Freeland herself had arrived equipped with some crimson talking points.

December 12, 2018

“I believe in lighting a single candle,” she said. “Where we can save a single person, where we can save a single woman, that is a good thing to do. … And I’d like to also emphasize, this is part of a broader Canadian policy of supporting women and girls in Canada and around the world.”

“Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world,” Trudeau chimed in.

It would be well-nigh impossible to argue against hearing, at the very least, Alqunun’s claim for asylum. But at this point, she is certainly also a political prop — a living symbol of the Liberal view of Canada’s place in the world, and an always-welcome opportunity for self-congratulation. (Continued: National Post) 

 

Tuesday October 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday October 16, 2018

Worried You Reek Like Weed? Prelam Has An ‘Odour Eliminator’ For You

The makers of Just’a Drop odour eliminators are stepping into the recreational cannabis market when it becomes legal October 17. Prelam Enterprises will launch the LUKY8 spray that day, which it claims will eliminate, and not just mask, the odour that comes with marijuana smoke.

June 22, 2018

“My goal was to give privacy to those people who will want to experiment because it’s legal all of a sudden,” said Prelam co-founder Luc Jalbert. “I figured there’s going to be millions of people trying it. There’ll be a lot of people buying it in the store because it’s legal, but they don’t want to advertise it, they don’t want their kids to know they had a puff.”

Jalbert said people who don’t traditionally use the substance may want to try it, including Baby Boomers. But as most people know, marijuana has a distinct smell that many may find too strong and obvious.

“Sometimes I’ll be in line at a bank or something and I can smell the cannabis on the guy behind me, it’s like, ‘wow, that’s a very distinct smell’,” Jalbert said. “My objective was to remove that taboo feeling that you could have a joint but you don’t have to advertise it.”

Jalbert said the LUKY8 is unlike other odour elimination sprays in the market because it “encapsulates the molecule [that creates the odour] and actually knocks it out.”

He used a formula aimed at the agricultural sector, he said. The product was researched, designed and manufactured in Moncton.

Users of the product just need to spray the air around them, their clothes or their furniture after consuming marijuana. Once sprayed, the LUKY8, which is safe for pets, will leave a light berry scent. (Source: Huddle Today)