The Star takes a deep dive into the notion of pharmacare as a nation-building project, instead of just thinking of mines, pipelines or other major infrastructure, and it’s an interesting piece to read. This being said, it once again ignores the problem of the premiers in the equation, which is starting to feel like a pattern for a newspaper that actually has the resources and the bench depth in their Queen’s Park bureau to actually take on this state of affairs. You can’t look at an issue that is almost entirely squarely within an area of provincial jurisdiction, whether that’s pharmacare or bail courts, and then ignore provincial culpability, and yet, this is what keeps happening in legacy media.

As for the pharmacare issue, yes, there are plenty of good arguments to be made for a universal single-payer system, and yes, the Liberals did spend years trying to build up this system on the back-end before the NDP made this a condition of their supply-and-confidence agreement, and put in the work of doing things like establishing the Canadian Drug Agency and getting an agreement with PEI off the ground for a full co-pay system (because they had no provincial drug plan), but that went entirely unrecognised as the NDP demanded a useless piece of legislation that tried to do things backwards, to legislate before an agreement had been made with provinces, and this is what the media kept their focus on, in particular because the NDP made such a dog-and-pony show about it, while at the same time, refusing to call out their provincial counterparts who actively resisted signing onto a federal pharmacare programme. Former BC premier John Horgan was particularly vociferously opposed, but did Jagmeet Singh, Don Davies or Peter Julian say a gods damned word about it? Nope.

Premiers have been allergic to this issue for decades now, because they don’t want to have to pay for one more thing, particularly as they are trying to starve the existing healthcare system in the hopes that they can privatise it to relieve themselves of the burden of paying for it. But nobody wants to hear that. They’d rather blame the federal government for supposedly under-funding (they don’t), or that they aren’t working hard enough to get a pharmacare deal with the provinces when the Trudeau government worked for years before NDP made their demands, and got an extremely limited agreement and called it a win. And premiers continue to be let off the hook.

effinbirds.com/post/7813695…

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-10-27T13:08:08.642Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukrainian forces are reinforcing positions in Pokrovsk as some 200 Russian troops have infiltrated the city in small groups. A UN inquiry has found that Russians have been using drones to hound and hunt down civilians who live near the front lines.

Good reads:

• Mark Carney says he plans to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping at the APEC Summit later this week in South Korea.
• Carney also says he hasn’t spoken to Trump since this latest tantrum started, while Sources™ say that American officials have been bothered by Ford’s rhetoric.
• Doug Ford won’t apologise for the Reagan ads, and says the PMO knew about them before they aired; David Eby says his own planned ads are going ahead.
• Tim Hodgson talks about the major projects they’re considering, and why a pipeline would need a private sector proponent and First Nations approval.
• Patty Hajdu announced that the budget will contain new money for training and credentials recognition, as well as a tax credit for caregivers.
• Here is the updated budget promise tracker.
• An internal audit of the Indigenous Art Centre found shoddy record-keeping of more than 130 artworks.
• The CRA seems to have missed a $4.99 million dubious refund that was only caught when the bank alerted them as to the suspicious transaction.
• The Quebec Superior Court has decided not to overturn the election in Terrebonne based on the postal code discrepancy, meaning the single-vote win remains.
• Doug Ford announced plans to scrap the province’s “fixed” election date, and to raise election donation limits.
• Danielle Smith invoked the Notwithstanding Clause and time allocation in her back-to-work legislation to end the teacher’s strike.
• The meltdown in BC over the Cowichan Indigenous Title recognition continues unabated, as the First Nations says the premier’s comments are unhelpful.
• Anne Applebaum walks through the propaganda techniques that Trump is promoting by replacing the press corps at the Pentagon with unserious outlets.
• Peter Jones explains Trump’s latest tantrum as textbook from his particular negotiating style, and advises on the steps to take next—and holding firm.
• Jared Wesley puts Danielle Smith’s invocation of the Notwithstanding Clause into a broader context of rights—and how to push back against it.

Odds and ends:

Ontarians: please mr ford we need healthcare, housing, and groceriesFord: best I can do is election fuckery www.thestar.com/politics/pro…

— Clare Blackwood (@clareblackwood.bsky.social) 2025-10-27T21:54:35.861Z

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