Rona Ambrose held a press conference yesterday to say that the government would be closing the “loopholes” in the Special Access Programme so that illicit drugs can no longer be prescribed for clinical purposes – never mind that the whole point of the programme that the injectable heroin was being prescribed in was because none of the other replacements worked, and that it was the safest and most effective way to preserve the health of the patient while getting them off the drug in a controlled manner. But hey, when did science matter over the ideological concerns that “drugs are bad”? Aaron Wherry talks to BC’s provincial health officer about the scientifically proven heroin-assisted treatment.
Ambrose, who was at a meeting with federal and provincial minsters of health, also said that she was willing to discuss doctor-assisted suicide, but won’t legalise because of the vote on the Bloc private member’s bill several years ago – which opens the door to more provinces taking the Quebec route of treating it as healthcare (a provincial jurisdiction) no doubt.
Stephen Harper is off to the APEC summit in Bali to talk trade and opening up Canadian markets, but while he makes a stop in Malaysia on the way, he’s bumping up against a visit by the president of China, which will completely overshadow Harper. Oops. Meanwhile, PostMedia offers up a primer on the state of the government’s trade agenda, and where we are with various trade agreements.
Justice Marc Nadon has now offered a bit of a backtrack and said that he wasn’t actually drafted by the Detroit Red Wings when he was fourteen, that “drafted” was the wrong term, and that he was told by his hockey-player father that he was going to be part of their organisation in some way, but that when he was sixteen his father insisted he either focus on hockey or school, and Nadon chose school.
Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq’s office wants you to know that her rather uncertain position in a televised interview about climate change was about the effects of climate change and not about climate change itself. Not that the opposition is giving any room for clarity or context, as the opposition launched their own statements (NDP and Liberal) about how woeful the government’s record is, and so on.
Rob Nicholson has backtracked and expresses some “confusion” as to how the letter that backtracked from Peter MacKay’s assertion that a widow’s husband’s death was attributable to military service was sent, and so we’re back to the death being attributable to military service. It remains a question as to what Nicholson’s office was thinking when they sent out that letter, but it seems that the media attention caught them out.
Travel for MPs’ spouses and families cost some $2.2 million, but it’s hard to begrudge most of it, considering how gruelling their work and travel schedules are to begin with. And really, if we’re going to start griping about it (as certain comments in the piece are), then we’re probably an even worse country for it, and making it even more difficult to get people to put themselves forward for this kind of work – especially those on the West Coast or the North, where travel is even more onerous.
PEI’s finance minister is proposing changes to CPP contributions to scale up the levels in order to better prepare Canadians for retirement. Ontario has already signed on to the idea, and it could start engaging the other provinces and push the federal government to start making these changes as well.
TransCanada is going to delay their application for the Energy East pipeline until next year, as it needs more work on its environmental portion.
The Commissioner of Canada Elections says that he doesn’t have the powers to dig up illegal financing that his Quebec counterpart does, and given the allegations of financing schemes being revealed in the Charbonneau Commission, it might make some sense to give the federal commissioner those kinds of powers.
Senator Brazeau has confirmed that he does indeed own property in his senatorial district, even though it’s a vacant lot.
Pundit’s Guide updates the four by-election races and the candidates therein. The soon-to-be contested Liberal nomination in Brandon-Souris remains the political drama of the season.
Over in PEI, a Progressive Conservative MLA crossed the floor to the Liberals, because he disagreed with the federal Conservative changes to EI, which is a bit odd, but there you have it. It is believed to be the first floor-crossing of a sitting MLA in the province’s history.
And on CBC Radio’s The Current, Susan Delacourt discusses her new book Shopping for Votes, about how politics is now more about marketing, and citizens are being treated more like consumers.