A look back at the healthcare chatter, promises in TV debates
The following is an excerpt from the English-language TV leaders’ debates held in Ottawa on June 15. This specific excerpt between Prime Minister Paul Martin, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe focused on the future of Canada’s healthcare system. CTV’s Craig Oliver led the debate with a […]
Canada needs a national catastrophic drug plan, say Senators, eliminate one of most unfair aspects
During the recent federal election all major parties addressed the need for catastrophic drug insurance for all Canadians — an issue first raised publicly by the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs Science and Technology in its October 2002 report, The Health of Canadians, Recommendations for Reform. All major parties said in their platforms that […]
‘Canadians want to see an adult conversation about health’
Prime Minister Paul Martin may have promised to reduce healthcare waiting lists over and over again during one of the nastiest 36-day election campaigns in recent memory, but Carolyn Bennett, the Prime Minister’s fast-talking Minister of State for Public Health says before doing that, the governing Liberals first have to figure out how long people […]
Inside the Natural Health Products Directorate
In response to growing concerns about the regulatory environment for natural medicines and an extensive study by the House Standing Committee on Health, Health Canada developed a new regulatory framework for natural health products (NHPs). The product of extensive consultations with a range of stakeholders representing consumers, academia, practitioners and industry, this innovative framework came […]
Minorities in the House
While the diversity of Canada gallops ahead, diversity in Ottawa moves at a snail’s pace, rendering Ottawa more and more distant from the country it governs. And while visible minorities in the senior public service runs around four per cent, many MPs coming to Ottawa were elected in ridings where visible minorities range between 30 […]
White guys asking all the questions
Three white men did what three white men stereotypically do. They didn’t talk about issues that white men are not immediately or personally concerned with. This is not to say that Craig Oliver, Keith Boag and David Vienneau did not do an extremely professional job in the English leaders’ TV debate last week. But was […]
Where are all the visible minority reporters on hustings?
Whether you see the cultural and racial diversity of Canada in the coverage of the election is the subject of a national survey currently underway. The diversity of the following will be examined: *the reporters assigned to cover each party leader; *reporters assigned to do other election coverage; *the political experts and pundits interviewed and […]
Adrienne Clarkson’s defining hour may yet be ahead
It is often said that some of the best work of Parliamentarians takes place in committees, and indeed the recent committee report on the Governor General’s expenditures was an example of a committee at its best — the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, chaired by Liberal Mississauga South MP Paul Szabo. It was […]
Rookie Agriculture Minister Speller suspects Canada-U.S. border to open ‘very soon’ to transporting live cattle
Agriculture Minister Bob Speller, who went to Washington, D.C., with the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, told The Hill Times that he believes the Canada-U.S. border will be opened up to transporting live cattle “very soon” and likely before the summer. “Well, the comment period just […]
Ottawa must respect Quebec’s differences in agriculture
This is a difficult period for agriculture. The mad cow crisis in Alberta is just the latest in a series of blows that have led to a steady drop in farmers’ incomes. The Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) is lower today than it was eight years ago, while production costs continue to rise. When Paul […]
