It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual Laurel because I’ve been swept up in the 2018 Ontario Election as campaign manager for my husband, the Green Party Candidate for Kitchener—Conestoga.
Over the last few years the five Waterloo Region Greens ridings have been working together, setting roots in our communities, establishing an online presence, and working hard raising our Green profile.
As disappointing as the overall winner-take-all result was (giving a party with only 40% of the vote 100% of the power), I am really very pleased that all five of our WRGreens candidates—
And we are all extraordinarily pleased that in this election, the GPO did indeed achieve our primary election goal: the Ontario Green Party made history! The citizens of Guelph saw the wisdom in electing GPO Leader Mike Schreiner to represent them, so now, for the very first time in history, a Green Party MPP will sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
This is the beginning of doing politics differently.
It’s been a while since I’ve made regular posts here on Visual Laurel because I’ve been swept up in the 2018 Ontario Election as campaign manager for my husband, the Green Party Candidate for Kitchener—Conestoga.
Over the last few years the five Waterloo Region Greens ridings have been working together, setting roots in our communities, establishing an online presence, and working hard raising our Green profile.
As disappointing as the overall winner-take-all result was (giving a party with only 40% of the vote 100% of the power), I am really very pleased that all five of our WRGreens candidates—
And we are all extraordinarily pleased that in this election, the GPO did indeed achieve our primary election goal: the Ontario Green Party made history! The citizens of Guelph saw the wisdom in electing GPO Leader Mike Schreiner to represent them, so now, for the very first time in history, a Green Party MPP will sit in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
This is the beginning of doing politics differently.
The KW Chapter of the Council of Canadians hosted a Pharmacare Town Hall Meeting in Waterloo this week. The discussion was moderated by Ron Ward, and featured University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Dr. Sherilyn Houle, Catherine Fife Waterloo’s NDP MPP, and the Green Party’s Stacey Danckert
What Is Pharmacare?
Pharmacare is a government program that ensures all citizens have access to the medicine their doctor prescribes.
Of all the countries that provide citizens with Universal Health Care, Canada is the only one that doesn’t have Universal Pharmacare. At the
“Overall, it estimates a universal pharmacare plan would save up to $11.4 billion a year, with $1 billion of that saved just by no longer duplicating administrative costs in the current “patchwork” system.”
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal Government have more important things to worry about than the health of its citizens, so the Ontario Liberals Government has stepped up to the plate with an intention to add publicly funded pharmacare coverage for children and youth ~ adding to the patchwork system.
“Because Ontario is adding universal, comprehensive pharmacare coverage to the age group that uses medicines least often. Many working-age Ontarians, who are far more likely to require medicines than children, will still be uninsured.”
Our AMerican friends are debating whether Heal Care is a human right. Canadians decided that it was long ago. Which is why it is bizarre that, of all the countries with Universal Health Care, Canada is the only country that doesn’t have Universal Pharmacare? In 2014, Dr. Eric Hoskins ~ Ontario’s Liberal Minister of Health and Long-Term Care ~ wrote an OpEd for the Globe and Mail explaining Why…
Our American friends are debating whether Health Care is a human right, but Canadians decided that it was long ago. Which is why it is bizarre that, of all the countries with Universal Health Care, Canada is the only country that doesn’t have Universal Pharmacare!
“Overall, it estimates a universal pharmacare plan would save up to $11.4 billion a year, with $1 billion of that saved just by no longer duplicating administrative costs in the current “patchwork” system.”
However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal Government have more important things to worry about than the health of its citizens, so the Ontario Liberals Government has stepped up to the plate with an intention to add publicly funded pharmacare coverage for children and youth ~ adding to the patchwork system.
“Because Ontario is adding universal, comprehensive pharmacare coverage to the age group that uses medicines least often. Many working-age Ontarians, who are far more likely to require medicines than children, will still be uninsured.”
1. Implement through a Federal law, a Pan-Canadian Universal Pharmacare Plan, in this 42nd Parliament; and
2. Implement a National Formulary for medically necessary drugs including a drug monitoring agency providing regulations and oversight to protect Canadians.
Previously I had heard Kitchener—Centre MPP Daiene Vernile was the scheduled Liberal representative. That makes a lot of sense in light of the recent provincial Liberal announcement about extending pharmacare to children and youth.
But when it was announced that Ms. Vernile was to be replaced by Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini, the rookie federal Liberal MP campaigned hard on his background as a pharmacist. It made sense for the Federal MP , to bring his specialized expertise to this discussion.
But I’ve just learned Kitchener Centre MP Raj Saini has backed out. Is this an indication neither federal or provincial Liberal majoritie governments are actually committed to pharmacare?
Come out on Tuesday night to find out why Canada needs pharmacare policy and what the NDP and Greens would do with this issue given the chance.
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