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Catastrophic Drug Program

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Lack of catastrophic drug program a black eye for Canada – The Globe and Mail.

Rare or orphan diseases are identified by their frequency in the population. Treatment provision for these illness varies from province to province. A previous article by Linda Priest in the Globe and Mail details all of this. You can read it here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/national-drug-policy-for-rare-diseases-has-fallen-between-the-cracks/article1970960/

But it’s not just orphan diseases that can be catastrophic for those afflicted. Multiple Sclerosis is relatively common in Canada, affecting both sexes. In Ontario the cost for a 4 week treatment with Avonex, a once a week injectable costs almost 2000$. Every month. For life or until relapse and then the drugs get more expensive. There is a new medication, oral, relieving the patient of the painful intramuscular injections, but it cost almost twice as much.

In Ontario, the Trillium Drug Plan can help, if the medication is listed in the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary, or can be covered as a limited use. The patient pays a deductible and must reapply every year if they also have some private drug benefit. FYI the drug benefits only cover the drugs the government wants to cover, not all of them. and certainly not the newest.

The country lags behind other first world countries, way behind, because there is no National program. What we do have is a National Disgrace. Oh yes, and new fighter jets.

Harper and the Youth

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Matt Gurney: Strong leaders don’t hide from young voters | Full Comment | National Post.

What sort of behaviour is this? Two young women, determined to attend the rally of every Federal candidate for leader, are thrown out of a Conservative rally because “they have ties to the Liberal Party”. What were the ties? The young woman had attended the Liberal rally and she had  her picture taken with Michael Ignatieff and posted it on her Facebook page.

Whoever approached the young women, also took their badges, given after they had registered for the rally. Who was he?

So it appears that Harper must be protected from the voters. These were young people, young women. I would be proud of a daughter who wanted to be that informed, and I am appalled at a so-called leader who has goons remove young people of the “wrong” political stripe from his rally, who is clearly afraid of taking questions– I mean five a day, come on–. I guess he doesn’t think he can convert anyone by his speeches and only wants to speak to those all ready in his camp.

Matt Gurney was spot on today. so read his column.

Expiry Date

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Shelly Glover’s ‘expiry date’ quip riles seniors – The Globe and Mail.

This woman is an MP who is a parliamentary secretary to the Finance Minister. Apparently she thinks ageism is an okay prejudice. She “quips” that Anita Neville, who is 68 years old and a Winnipeg MP is “beyond her expiry date.” Her age, Glover says, oh no I wasn’t talking about her age, just how long she has occupied her seat. She doesn’t seem to realize that to us who are I suppose also over our expiry date, denigrating Ms Neville’s years of experience and comparing her to…what? a carton of old milk, is worse than simply saying she is old.

It wasn’t reported whether Glover said anything about how well or poorly Ms. Neville has served her constituents, whether she has been an active or noninvolved member of the House, or even if she had a sterling or shabby attendance record. No, the only thing that mattered was her longevity.

CARP has taken great exception to this statement, rightly seeing it as expressing how Ms Glover views the elderly. I  am concerned that this woman has the ear of the finance minister, and may have ambition to move into Flaherty’s job if he moves to another portfolio( not that a woman in that job is too likely if Harper wins).

Just another straw to add to the stack on the camel. i wonder when it will be enough.

Election

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Let’s see. Last April we had the Maternal Health plan for the third world that didn’t include abortion. Harper is ant-choice.

In May it was the navy. The minister concerned–Mackay– says the navy has more money than ever before, but the actual amount, 1.97 billion, was down from 2.1 billion the year before.

In June, it was the G20. Remember, Harper’s fake lake, then the police response with people “kettled” in the streets of Toronto, in a violent thunderstorm, with no way out for hours. All part of the law and order agenda.

In July, the long form census, in which a senior civil servant had to resign because he couldn’t sign off on the statistical nonsense that is a voluntary, truncated census.

In August,

Last year, as revealed by The Canadian Press, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lunched in New York with Roger Ailes, president of Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch, who owns it. Kory Teneycke, Mr. Harper’s former spokesman, was also present at the unannounced event.

Mr. Teneycke later became the point man for Quebecor’s Pierre Karl Péladeau in his effort to create a right-wing television network modelled along the lines of Fox News. The new network is a high priority for Mr. Harper, for whom controlling the message has always been – witness his government vetting program – of paramount importance.

In September, I was involved in my vacation to Spain, which included a vacation from Canadian politics.

By January, Harper was “musing” on the death penalty. He wants more and bigger prisons as well. At the same time, American conservative and former more prisons cheerleader, started going around the continent telling people that recidivism is not reduced, rehabilitation fails, with an expanded system. The crime rate is dropping but the conservative base is fearful. They should be fearful of putting more young people into the finishing schools for criminals that our prisons have become.

In February, Minister Oda got caught in another lie, changing documents to make it seem that the civil service supported her position to deny funding to a charity that  it for thirty-odd years. Did she do that on her own? Not a chance with Harper the micro-manager at the helm.

In March, we learned that it wasn’t the Government of Canada any more, but Harper’s Government. And that government was found in contempt of Parliament. He’s been contemptuous of Parliament from the beginning. It’s time for a change.

And all of this was done while he was in a minority position. What if he had a majority? Not with my vote and I’m one of those 60 plus women voters they’re trying so hard to recruit.

Contempt of Parliament

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Conservatives flood contempt hearings with phalanx of bureaucrats – The Globe and Mail.

According to the Globe and Mail this morning, the committee to look into the contempt of parliament charges against the government, will be faced not only with the two Ministers who are supposed to answer questions, but also 10 senior bureaucrats. And all of this is to take one hour.

First of all, who sets these time limits. If questions have to be asked and answered, set aside enough time to do it properly. It takes these people, politicians and bureaucrats alike, an hour just to say good morning. They know that.

Secondly, why all the top cops at the meeting. Well, cops and spooks, and spies. The head of CSIS, CBS, Correctional Services, and some second tier guys from Justice, and the RCMP.

Do they expect to release information to overwhelm the committee, which is looking into the lack of transparency and the true cost of the government’s law and order bill? Don’t the Ministers know the answers to the questions? It’s their file, after all, their “look at us, we’re keeping you safe” plan to win the next election. Do they need help with the details at this late stage? The budget is coming down next week.

It looks to me like yet another government attempt to keep the truth hidden. What a bunch.

“Harper’s” government

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/lawrence-martin/on-the-road-to-the-harper-governments-tipping-point/article1933110/

Lawrence Martin reminds us of the multiple offenses against democracy that have taken place since the Conservatives came to power. The tag line–there’s more to come– expanded over the last two days into a scandal about misusing government funds in the last election. This government and these ministers take responsibility right up to the point of being found out and then they scarper and blame a junior minister or a civil servant.

Oda, Kenney, Harper himself, all of them have the same haughty attitude of “if we doit, it must be good”. No responsibility, no resignations.

Even the Globe and Mail, who never saw a Tory government it couldn’t support, rails this morning about the lack of transparency( you and I would call it lying) about the cost of their “tough on crime” agenda. Even the “lock ’em up and throw away the keys” boys in the US have woken up to the fact that it costs megabucks to incarcerate people for minor crimes as has happened under the three strike law. One in every hundred Americans is in jail.

But the cost is one thing. Incarceration is a failure at reducing the number of reoffenders, at rehabilitation, at treating the mental illnesses that bring so many into conflict with the law. Why spend huge amounts on something that doesn’t work and won’t make our society any safer? Why? It’s called buying your vote with your money. Oh, and we don’t know what the bill will be because they won’t tell us.

Have you seen the Harper attack ads. Remember them from last time? They’re recycling stuff that they ran years ago, referencing events from the beginning of Michael Ignatieff’s return to this country. Apparently they haven’t yet got over the fact that he is a man with international experience, compared to their man, little-travelled until he came to power. Lawrence Martin reminds us that the ones they released this time have been withdrawn because they were of “such questionable quality.” How low can they sink?

Abuse of power. “L’Etat, c’est moi. That’s the Harper gang.

Writing: I’ve been working on the sequel to The Facepainter Murders, http://www.writewordsinc.com/and http://www.amazon.com., and recently joined the novel section of my online writing group. A no-hold-barred bunch they are, and very helpful. http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org/

My short story, Homicide in Haliburton has been published by Pine Tree Mysteries at this link.  http://www.pinetreemysteries.com/index.html

Writing is a craft, with a learning curve that I certainly didn’t understand when I started out twelve years ago. I’ve been reading Scene and Structure, by Jack Bickman, part of the Elements of Fiction Writing, published by Writers Digest Books, to learn some of the formal mechanics of constructing a novel.

Sakineh: She languishes in prison. Her sentence to stoning has been reversed, but she may still be hanged. Her lawyer is in exile, having been tortured in prison and she has given a “confession”. Please sign the petition.

http://freesakineh.org/

Harper’s Government

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PMO directive rebrands ‘Harper Government’ – Canada – CBC News.

Yes, it’s his government all right. Not ours. Not all Canadians. His. Give him a majority and watch him change what many of us value, starting with Parliament, and the concept that the government belongs to us, not him.

The other interesting item was in the Globe today. Apparently, some Republicans in the US want to reduce the number of incarcerated people, because IT COSTS TOO MUCH. Really. What a surprise. The article goes on too little is spent on helping individuals reintegrate into society creating the revolving door.

Another big lie?

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“allowed the party to exceed the campaign spending limits and allowed candidates to claim rebates on expenses that weren’t actually incurred, the agency said.”

via Campaign financing ruling goes against Tories – Canada – CBC News.

So all the time the Tories were running those nasty attack ads, they were fudging the books. Why do people keep voting for these people. They’re contemptuous of Parliament; take the low road whenever possible, and apparently thinks it’s okay to use taxpayer money to exceed the spending limits. That’s called stealing in the Ottawa Valley where I was raised.

Another big lie from Big Pharm

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Drug R&D costs are less than estimated – so why the high prices? – The Globe and Mail.

Andre Picard, writing in the Globe this am, has deconstructed the often-repeated figures about the many millions or even billions needed to bring medications to market. The original estimates, derived entirely from unchecked figures provided by the drug companies themselves, used huge percentages to estimate income lost because the money that went into R&D was not otherwise invested. When was the last time you got a steady 11% over the course of decades? The usual figure is 3-5%. All in all, it sounds like another big lie.

Mr. Picard also makes the point that most drugs developed aren’t brand new, but rather “me too” drugs–think the cholesterol lowering drugs for example, or the multiple formulations of methylphenidate(Ritalin and its brothers). These cost less to develop because the basic research has all ready been done. Even older drugs, like AVONEX for MS, developed in 1999, are still enormously expensive. The cost of this drug has in fact risen. Surely the R&D costs have been paid off by now?

It seems to be a theme with the powers that be. Tell a lie often enough and even if it’s outrageous, people will start to believe it.

Oda

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/gerald-caplan/stephen-harpers-worst-enemy/article1913681/

The worst enemy of Stephen Harper described in this article by Gerald Caplan, is Harper himself, at least the mean-spirited, nasty, revenge-seeking, never-say-you’re-sorry side of the man. He punishes dissent as quickly as any Middle-Eastern despot, although not with bullets and truncheons. The article above is dealing with the ramifications of the Oda affair, which has the autocrat’s stamp all over it. What I found disconcerting was the line-up of members of Kairos, churches from the Anglican Church of Canada to the Evangelical Lutheran, to the Mormon Church, all of them working together for decades to bring compassion and health care to violated women in Africa. But they spoke out against the decisions of Harper with which they disagreed, and so the funding, long-established and carried forward for thirty-five years is gone, as has the funding for countless other smaller organizations on the other side of political debate.

And then they lied, yet again. “Who did that? Not me?” she says to the Commons committee, not to a newspaper, or her friends at lunch, but to Parliament. Apparently the Harperites despise, not just the Upper House, but the whole thing. And it’s not the first time.

Gerald Caplan writes that this reflects the abandonment of the view that a government of the people is responsible for maintaining civil society. That is the difference that Canadians, who value our civil society and its support of the ill and the weak and the old, will have to consider at the next election.

Go to the end of the article and read the list of activities Harper has indulged in over the five years he has been in power. Why would we want to keep him?

He isn’t conservative with our money either. Look at the millions of dollars that is the estimate to carry out his further acts of vengeance against those convicted of crimes, many of them minor ones committed by people with serious mental illness, condemning them to be stacked like cordwood in cells barely adequate for one let alone three or four. Our prisons are going to resemble those in the third world. And for what? Rehabilitation doesn’t occur under these circumstances. Education in crime does. Getting mental heath resources for children is extremely difficult in this country. Perhaps he could spend a few dollars at the root of the problem.