Tag Archives: Canada

I hate when liberals do this

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That is, give me a reason to like them.

Keith Martin, a British Columbia [Member of Parliament] who is also a medical doctor, is calling for a fundamental shift in Canada’s approach to health care, and his ideas run counter to his own party’s policy on medicare.

[...]

On Monday, amid renewed debate about medicare, Martin released a strongly worded statement in which he outlined how the system must change or Canadian patients will increasingly experience “needless pain and suffering” while they wait for treatment.

“We cannot continue to wrap ourselves in the CHA, hold onto shibboleths and demonize those who are trying to modernize our obsolete health care system,” wrote Martin.

He predicted Canada is “careening into a brick wall” because of rising health-care costs and the results will ultimately be stark: hospital services denied to sick patients; previously insured services no longer covered; longer waiting times; and frustrated medical personnel leaving the profession.

Martin writes that instead of “tinkering” with the system, governments must “modernize” the Canada Health Act to allow patients to “pay for care if they wish, in entirely separate facilities funded solely by the private sector.”

Under such a system, writes Martin, Canadians could go to these centres and pay for the medically necessary treatment out of their own pocket or through private insurance they have purchased.

“By leaving the public system, they will be shortening the queues for those who are waiting. People using private facilities from time to time would also be free to access the public system that their taxes are paying for. Private facilities would act as a release valve and would in effect be subsidizing the public system. Physicians and other medical personnel would work in both systems.”

The arguments that Martin proposes aren’t new. In fact, they’re things that conservatives have been saying for quite a while now. However, it’s refreshing when a member of the Left commits to putting their ideology behind them and focusing on the facts. When it comes to healthcare, the facts are simple: Having top-knotch healthcare that you have to wait months or years for is no better than having healthcare you might not be able to afford.

Forgetting the obvious fact that all individuals with foresight in a purely private system would have health insurance to cover medical care, if the option comes down to remortgaging your house or dying, I think the former seems like a far better idea. I’ve written about my own nightmares in the healthcare system before, where I almost died waiting for [supposedly] the ‘best healthcare in the world’ here in Canada.

No one wants people to be dying in the streets because they can’t afford healthcare. Fortunately, that has never proven to be more than a progressive “line” not an actual reality in any Western country.

I’d like to see Canada go to an entirely private healthcare system, but allowing for private competition is a great step in the right direction.

Didn’t see this one coming

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In the seasonal slew of municipal elections across Canada, I was expecting that Toronto would deliver the surprise of the year with the impending Mayoral victory of Rob Ford, or as my colleague Ari Fine calls him, “The only person I’ve ever been looking forward to voting for.” What I wasn’t expecting was the downfall of Calgary.

Calgary’s new Mayor is none other than Naheed Nenshi (don’t worry, no one else has heard of him either.) There are a couple of factors here to consider: 1) He’s gay; 2) He’s a Muslim; and, worst of all, 3) He’s Harvard-educated. While I wonder how the homosexual, Muslim professor was elected in Calgary, a city formerly known as Canada’s Houston (in the province of Alberta, Canada’s Texas,) I find it particularly amusing that this is a guy who needed to run a campaign ad telling people how to pronounce his name (apparently Abdullah Bin-Buttrumping wasn’t good enough.)

Despite running a campaign with a fiscally-conservative platform out of necessity, Nenshi’s campaign was lacking in what most would refer to as “a platform.” Conservative cabinet Minister Jason Kenney referred to it as a “brilliant ideas-based campaign,” but I question how this “ideas-based campaign” is anything more than a big month-long singing of Kumbaya. Seriously, Nenshi wanted to start a revolution where the city folk would spend more time “talking to the person next to you on the bus” and “taking an extra minute with the cashier at Safeway.” All that he was missing were Styrofoam Greek columns and crowds chanting “Yes we can!” And, much like Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign, with no record to stand on, people were happy swooning over a vision. The true conservative in this race was Ric McIver, and Calgarians will soon learn how bad having a leader who doesn’t represent them is.

Get Your Limited Edition Mark Steyn T-Shirt!

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Whether or not you can make it to Mark Steyn’s speech in London, Ontario on November 1st, the Head For the Hills T-Shirt is a great shirt for you to proudly wear, and a gift for everyone in your freaking family! You can order them from Hollywood Loser here! The good folks over at HL are offering free shipping anywhere in North America for a limited time, so act now!

Order your shirt(s) here.

Mark Steyn to speak in London, Ontario

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Just like March of earlier this year, a Canadian university campus is getting shaken up by a truly conservative message being shared with its students. American author, columnist and radio broadcaster Mark Steyn will be delivering an iconic speech at the University of Western Ontario. His speech is entitled, Head For The Hills: Why Everything In Your World Is Doomed, and it’s bound to be awesome.

The same people who brought you Coulter in Canada last year are at it again. StrictlyRight.com and Strictly Right Radio is proud to be bringing bestselling author and award-winning radio host Mark Steyn to shake things up at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.

On November 1st, 2010, Mark Steyn will be delivering a speech on political correctness, free speech and Islam in the West. Mark’s speech will be entitled “Head For The Hills: Why Everything In Your World Is Doomed.” Following his speech, Mark will be answering questions in a Q&A period, then signing copies of his two most recent books.

You can view all details on the event page here.

Follow @AndrewLawton, @AriMFine, and @RyanWRuppert on Twitter for the latest updates.

Arrested for Defending Life (Updated with Carleton Contact Info)

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In the last year, post-secondary institutions in Ottawa have really been screwing up with this “free speech” concept that universities are supposed to embrace. Last March, the University of Ottawa made international headlines for threatening to criminally investigate Ann Coulter for a speech she hadn’t given yet; today, a group of peaceful students at Ottawa’s Carleton University were arrested and hauled off in a police van for doing the unthinkable: standing out against abortion on their own campus.

Four students were arrested this morning by Ottawa police for putting up a graphic anti-abortion display on the main quadrangle of Carleton University.

The students, all members of a pro-life group called Carleton Lifeline, applied for permission to put up the display two months ago but were turned down by the university.

The school said it did not allow large displays in the quadrangle and also cited the offensiveness of the photos.

The students were offered a room in which the photos of bloody fetuses could be shown and a table in the main university centre to invite fellow students to the display.

However, Ruth Lobo, one of the students arrested, said putting up the display was a matter of free speech and a personal obligation to “tell the truth about abortion.”

The four Carleton students have been charged with trespassing. A fifth man from Queen’s University was also charged.

These posters depicting the horrors of abortion are part of the larger “Genocide Awareness Project,” which has attracted similar controversies across the country. A couple of years ago, students at the University of Calgary were met with similar opposition and told to turn their signs around (so they were facing a fall) lest they send the police after them.

The notion that universities are biased towards the secular, humanist left is the worst-kept secret in North America. But the lesser known fact is how they resort to arresting their own students for refusing to toe the party line. Censorship techniques that could make Stalin blush. It’s interesting how university students are so actively in support of abortion but scared to face the a display of the outcome of abortions. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find an example of a prominent pro-life speaker who can speak on a college campus without a bodyguard.

Please express your concerns to Carleton University directly (and let me know via the comments section or email about any response or lack thereof.)

Lin Moody
Media Relations
613-520-2600 x8705
Lin_Moody@carleton.ca

Steve Blais
Media Relations
613-520-2600 x1391
Steve_Blais@carleton.ca

This is why we hate politicians

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I know for a fact that there are good politicians out there; well-meaning people who have to deal with much frustration being surrounded by idiots. However, it seems that when you put them all in a group, the outcome is less than favorable. Tonight, Canadian Members of Parliament gathered to vote on whether or not they liked the content of an article written by Maclean’s, a private magazine, calling the province of Quebec “corrupt.”

MPs took the unprecedented step Wednesday night of unanimously denouncing articles published by the country’s national news magazine, Maclean’s.Maclean’s had published a controversial cover story pronouncing Quebec the “most corrupt province in Canada.” The accompanying article traced a series of scandals in that province from the Duplessis era in the 1950s through to the Liberal sponsorship scandal and the present-day Bastarache Commission hearings into allegations that politicians improperly influenced the appointment of judges.

But the suggestion that all of Quebec was the “most corrupt province” was too much, apparently, for MPs from all parties, who unanimously supported the motion from Bloc Quebecois MP Pierre Paquette “that this House, while recognizing the importance of vigorous debate on subjects of public interest, expresses its profound sadness at the prejudice displayed and the stereotypes employed by Maclean’s Magazine to denigrate the Quebec nation, its history and its institutions.”

One M.P., Andre Arthur, an independent from Quebec actually stood out against this motion on the grounds that “Parliament has no business to criticize the work of reporters.” Arthur has a bit of a reputation of being a trouble maker, but he’s the only Member of Parliament to approach this motion (put forth by a Marxist separatist) from the right angle: no one cares whether or not the content of the article is objectionable, the question at hand is whether or not government should hold massive votes to express their disapproval of something written in a private publication.

First off, the article in Maclean’s was accurate: Quebec’s provincial administrations and politicians at other levels have a substantially murkier track record when it comes to corruption than the rest of Canada does. Even if that weren’t the case, however, I don’t really see the advantage to the government of passing motions condemning the work of reporters. To Maclean’s, this is a gift from above as the audience of this particular story has now grown exponentially, but this is unnecessary government meddling to the extreme.

My request to our readers: call your M.P.’s office asking them why it’s the business of government to condemn the writing of individual reporters. Email me or leave their responses (or lack thereof) in the comments section!

Strictly Right Radio with Ezra Levant

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On this episode of Strictly Right, Ari and Andrew chat about Obama’s sinking poll numbers, ice cream at Gitmo, media bias and a great interview with bestselling author Ezra Levant.

You can purchase Ezra’s book, Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oilsands here.

You can listen to this episode online here or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Follow @AndrewLawton and @AriMFine on Twitter!

The Sounds of the Silenced

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The official sponsors of the famous Ann Coulter Canadian tour are continuing to promote the cause to bring back free speech to Canada. Now, International Free Press Society – Canada is bringing Connie and Mark Fournier of popular conservative messageboard FreeDominion, victims of censorship by a government agency, to speak about their startling experience with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Is Canada ready for a majority government?

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Everyone this week has been asking, “Is Canada ready for the Tea Party Movement.” (The answer is YES by the way.) The Ottawa Citizen though is asking if Canada is ready for a Majority government.

After four-and-a-half years of governing with more seats than any other party, but less than half of the total available seats in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper may need to make a bold move in the next election to get the extra 11 seats he needs to have complete control of the federal government. The alternative? A government lead by a Canadian who lived outside the country for 34 years returning only to run for office, a socialistic who thinks terrorists are just misguided freedom fighters, and a man who hates Canada so much that he wants to pull the second biggest province out of confederation. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Stephen Harper isn’t perfect. He’s passed some policies that I personally disagree with. However, he’s a heck of a lot better than the three stooges on the other side of the aisle. Actually, the two don’t even compare.

The Tea Party Movement in Canada is not a mouthpiece for the Conservative Party of Canada. In fact, it’s a mouthpiece for the citizens of Canada, and I sure hope that government will take the Tea Party values of limited government, greater liberty and individuality and start to insert that into policy. Some people fail to see that liberty is not a fringe value. Liberty is a God-given right shared by everyone. The government doesn’t give us freedom, government by nature limits freedom.

So, how can Harper get his majority? According to Tom Flanagan, former Harper aid, he needs to contrast him versus the opposition without ever uttering the word ‘majority.’ Oddly enough, where majority governments used to be common, Canadians seem to be scared of them now. In the two-party United States system, there’s a majority party and a minority party. Nothing else. In the recent British election, the voters had no idea what they would do when the winning party failed to win the majority of seats. As a response, the “conservatives” got into a coalition with the socialist Liberal Democrats. Critics of Prime Minister Harper assume that he’s only riding out the wave until he has a majority then this miraculously conservative hidden agenda will be implemented.

If he were prepared to hold out for almost five years before putting forth those policies, I imagine they wouldn’t be that important. Just as it’s time for Canadians to make a bold move, it’s time for Harper to. If the Prime Minister continues on this path, he’ll lose support from the right that he won’t gain from the Left. He needs to tell people he wants a majority, and tell them what he’ll do with it.