Tag Archives: Healthcare

Roundup: Beginning the bullying debate

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MPs will be debating an NDP private members’ motion on creating a committee to develop a national strategy to prevent bullying.

A justice department study shows that gun crime costs the country $3.1 billion per year. The study authors did note, however, that the problems are complex and that a costing analysis is not a substitute for policy formulation.

The government has consistently said it’s a myth that the free trade deal with Europe would increase drug prices in Canada, but as it turns out, their own analysis has said that one of the three contested sections could increase drug prices in Canada by up to $2 billion per year. But nothing has been decided, they continue to insist.

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Roundup: Leadership on healthcare

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Day two of the Council of the Federation meeting in Halifax yesterday, and the topic was healthcare – specifically the report prepared by premiers Brad Wall and Robert Ghiz on common best practices, bulk buying certain pharmaceuticals, and such. (Hilariously, Leona Aglukkaq later insisted the federal government has played a leadership role in healthcare, which is especially funny when pretty much every single answer she gives in QP is about how nothing is her responsibility). As part of the day’s news, the premiers also invited Harper to sit down with them for their next meeting in November – to which Harper replied that he’ll totally get right on that. Really!

And no, the topic of pipelines was not omitted. Premiers like Ghiz and David Alward want an east-west pipeline so that refineries in the east can process bitumen from the west. Which is all well and good, but just remember that there is a heck of a lot more east-west distance in this country for a pipeline to cross (and possibly leak) than there is to go north-south to the pre-existing refineries in Texas, for example.  And longer pipelines mean a lot more cost, since reversing the flow of the existing east-west pipeline won’t have that much capacity to grow as oil sands operations ramp up.

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