Ottawa’s like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: If there ever was a wackier time in national politics, can’t recall it: Powers, Kinsella
Election Speculation Powers: Warren, isn’t it sort of fitting that this year is the 30th anniversary of the making of the classic film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Ottawa has, if this is possible, gotten crazier with rampant rumours about an election. Nurse Ratched Martin’s poor prescriptions, the media’s incessant desire for that “election […]
Healthcare costs need to be brought down to earth: Kicking the healthcare system’s drug habit is a needed first step
In the last 20 years, prescription drug expenditures have grown faster than any other area in a health system characterized by skyrocketing spending. As the population ages, governments and individuals will likely fork over ever-greater chunks of their budgets to pay for prescription drugs. Individuals and government must take immediate action to reduce the impact […]
PARLIAMENTARY CALENDAR: Deputy Government Leader Belanger to speak on democratic reform at National Press Club on April 12
MONDAY, APRIL 11 The House-The House of Commons returns. For more information on the House Chamber schedule, call the Government House Leader’s Office at 613-952-4930. Gomery Inquiry-The Gomery Inquiry, or officially, the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, headed by Mr. Justice John H. Gomery, will hold hearings in Montreal until […]
A GNAT’S WHISKER AWAY FROM ANOTHER SOVEREIGNTY REFERENDUM
Parti Time… Amid all the spring election scenarios and speculation – from the Conservatives and NDP trying to engineer one without coming across as bad guys, to the Liberals trying to engineer their own defeat – the most solid involves the Bloc’s desire to see a quick election call. The word from some quarters in […]
Secrecy is undermining Canada’s drug approval process: ‘The cynicism around drug approvals is compounded by the secrecy of important data’: Crowder
It is absolute common sense: a patient is the first person to know about an adverse drug reaction. So why do so few patients report their drug reactions? It is an important question.The Canadian Institute for Health Information estimates that over $22-billion will be spent on drugs this year.That doesn’t include the natural health products […]
Recently Released Political Book [Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands, May 1945]
Canada and the Liberation of the Netherlands, May 1945, by Lance Goddard/Foreword by Richard Rohmer, Dundurn Press, 236 pages, $29.99. Blurb: “The Nazi Germany invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 marked the beginning of five years of terror for the Dutch people. They faced oppression and death with remarkable stoicism, but nothing could save […]
Neo-conservatives and raising taxes [Not buying new Conservative Party, says former PC MP Hueglin, March 28, 2005]
Regarding the letter to the editor, “Not buying new Conservative Party, says former PC MP Hueglin” by Joe Hueglin (The Hill Times, March 28). The U.S. Republican Party usually serves as a model for Canadian neoconservatives like Stephen Harper and Preston Manning with their emphasis on tax cuts and greater privatization of health care. But […]
A time for smarter regulation: Telecommunications policy review should proceed quickly, forward-looking
In the budget tabled on Feb. 23, the government announced its intention to appoint a panel of eminent Canadians to review Canada’s telecommunications policy and regulatory framework.The announcement of this review could not be more opportune and is welcomed by Canadian business and institutional telecommunications customers. Speaking on behalf of over 12,000 business and school […]
Memo to Stephen Harper: make nice with reporters: Conservative leader’s antipathy towards media is the emotional legacy of the Reform Party
Stephen Harper may have the worst media relations of any postwar Opposition Leader. Reporters commonly have an affinity for the Opposition – any Opposition. Both are mandated to expose problems in the hope it leads to public good. John Diefenbaker, in his last act as Opposition Leader in 1957, went pickerel fishing with the press. […]
Portrait Gallery of Canada to open in 2007: But Conservative MP Bev Oda criticizes $44.6-million price tag, double original estimate
Plans for the upcoming $44.6-million Portrait Gallery of Canada, which is supposed to open in 2007, were recently unveiled in Ottawa. And the building is going to be big. The Portrait Gallery, to be housed in the old U.S. Embassy right across from Parliament Hill, will be expanded in the vacant parking lot and will […]
