[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Jacob]

But mostly it's a combination of "global warming isn't real" plus "we need to support our oil and gas industry".

To me it comes across as about equal parts "culture war" and "oil and gas 4EVAR!"

... I recently read that until she became the head of the UCP, Smith lead a major oil & gas lobby group lobbying the provincial government. Is that correct?

[Barrister]

But mostly it's a combination of "global warming isn't real" plus "we need to support our oil and gas industry".

To me it comes across as about equal parts "culture war" and "oil and gas 4EVAR!"

... I recently read that until she became the head of the UCP, Smith lead a major oil & gas lobby group lobbying the provincial government. Is that correct?

So no offence Jacob, but I don't see how meaningfully different what you said was from what I said.

(in the quoted part - I hope you agree that there is still a need for a reliable backbone for power generation?)

Not aware of the second factor.  I did know that during her time out of politics she was a radio talk show host.  Doing some basic googling, it shows she was head of the Alberta Enterprise Group, a "corporate advocacy group".  It looks to be similar to the Chamber of Commerce, but more willing to get involved politically.  Being Alberta it has a significant O&G element, but does not appear to be specifically a front for the O&G industry.  It's not like the O&G industry needs to be secretive about it's lobbying either - not in Alberta.  Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and Pathways Alliance (which represents oilsands in particular) are big influencers.

[viper37]

If they're afraid of turkeys wait until the geese show up.

Hey, they made six movies about cloning wild turkeys that went on rampage! 

7   I don't know, I'd still take turkeys over geese guarding parking lots any day.
Although one  of the funniest things I say was when a flock of seagulls decided to nest on the roof of the complex that housed one of our service divisions. Once the chicks came they started dive bombing everyone in their path. If you ignored them and kept moving calmly they gave you wide berth. But woe to those that ran.

[Barrister]

So the Pharmacare program is due to be announced today.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-unveils-pharmacare-program-1.7129439

So a couple of takeaways:

-at first only drugs for diabetes and contraception will be covered.  Diabetes is about as good a cause as any, but contraception feels very "culture wars" to me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not on team "whore pills" and I support contraception (hell I had a vasectomy), but don't you dare say only the right plays these culture war games.

-cost is estimated at $1.5 billion to start.  Yay more spending when we have a projected deficit of $38 billion!

-depends on negotiations with the provinces.  So I can't imagine that being put into place before the next election.

-I still don't believe this benefits the NDP, even though they were the ones who pushed for it.  Look at the article I  linked to - it's the health minister and "the federal government" who gets credit in the first half of the article.  You have to go down to the second half to learn the NDP had anything to do with it.  So again if you're impressed with this pharmacare plan - you're going to credit the Liberals.

[Jacob]

So no offence Jacob, but I don't see how meaningfully different what you said was from what I said.

Why would I be offended if we agree?

(in the quoted part - I hope you agree that there is still a need for a reliable backbone for power generation?)

Yup. I'm not a anti-O&G dogmatist (and by O&G I mean "oil & gas" not "orcs & goblins").

Not aware of the second factor.  I did know that during her time out of politics she was a radio talk show host.  Doing some basic googling, it shows she was head of the Alberta Enterprise Group, a "corporate advocacy group".  It looks to be similar to the Chamber of Commerce, but more willing to get involved politically.  Being Alberta it has a significant O&G element, but does not appear to be specifically a front for the O&G industry.  It's not like the O&G industry needs to be secretive about it's lobbying either - not in Alberta.  Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and Pathways Alliance (which represents oilsands in particular) are big influencers.

Thanks for the details. It was a social media allegation, which is why I asked.

[Grey Fox]

So the Pharmacare program is due to be announced today.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-unveils-pharmacare-program-1.7129439

So a couple of takeaways:

-at first only drugs for diabetes and contraception will be covered.  Diabetes is about as good a cause as any, but contraception feels very "culture wars" to me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not on team "whore pills" and I support contraception (hell I had a vasectomy), but don't you dare say only the right plays these culture war games.

It's only a war for the side that thinks women rights and ending women discrimination is antagonistic to their side.

[Barrister]

So the Pharmacare program is due to be announced today.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-unveils-pharmacare-program-1.7129439

So a couple of takeaways:

-at first only drugs for diabetes and contraception will be covered.  Diabetes is about as good a cause as any, but contraception feels very "culture wars" to me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not on team "whore pills" and I support contraception (hell I had a vasectomy), but don't you dare say only the right plays these culture war games.

It's only a war for the side that thinks women rights and ending women discrimination is antagonistic to their side.

Oh come on man.

The Pharmacare plan is ONLY covering two things - diabetes and contraception.

They could have chosen to cover all kinds of other medications.  They could have chosen medications for heart disease / blood pressure.  They could have chosen medications for mental health.  They could have chosen pain medications.  Heck they could have chosen to cover various vaccines that aren't otherwise covered.  Those all would have been valuable areas.

But no - they chose contraception.  Which as I said is a perfectly valuable type of medication.  But I guarantee they chose it so they could argue in the coming election campaign that when the Conservatives oppose pharmacare it's because they secretly hate women.

The only thing that would have been more transparent is if they chose to cover hormone replacement therapy.  But that probably didn't poll as well.

[Jacob]

Not trying to be disingenuous here, but what's the culture war angle here?

Is it "contraception is for WOMEN, so it's reverse-sexism" angle? Or is it "my religious belief thinks contraception is wrong, so I can't support this"? Something else?

My immediate reaction to seeing it cover diabetes and contraception is that they're probably ones that will affect very large parts of the population and will have a significant impact on peoples' quality of life. Diabetes is very common and - I think - associated with lower incomes (and thus poorer diets). Similarly, lack of access to birth control has some pretty significant impacts society wide.

[Grey Fox]

Oh come on man.

The Pharmacare plan is ONLY covering two things - diabetes and contraception.

They could have chosen to cover all kinds of other medications.  They could have chosen medications for heart disease / blood pressure.  They could have chosen medications for mental health.  They could have chosen pain medications.  Heck they could have chosen to cover various vaccines that aren't otherwise covered.  Those all would have been valuable areas.

But no - they chose contraception.  Which as I said is a perfectly valuable type of medication.  But I guarantee they chose it so they could argue in the coming election campaign that when the Conservatives oppose pharmacare it's because they secretly hate women.

That's a lot of credits to the NDP you weren't ready to give them only a couple of posts ago.

It's not a secret that C.c.onservatives hate women.

[Josephus]

Only diabetes and contraception? You thought it was supposed to be universal?

[Jacob]

Only diabetes and contraception? You thought it was supposed to be universal?

One day...

[crazy canuck]

BB, there are good reasons for subsidizing birth control independent of your imagined culture war.  Based on your assertion that one exists on this issue, you are probably not aware that a number of provinces have already subsidized contraception.  The reason is economics rather than ideology.

The policy decision was made because providing subsidized contraception access provides a huge savings to the medical system which would otherwise have to pay for unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.  Your party is all about common sense solutions.  Giving away condoms to sexually active people is just good common sense.

 

[Sheilbh]

If they're afraid of turkeys wait until the geese show up.

Geese are dangerous but I remember as a kid that it was really emphasised to me how dangerous geese can be - "they can break your arm". It's one of those dangers, like quicksand, that seems to have taken up a lot more of my childhood than was probably proportionate to the number of times I've actually come across any geese (on land) or quicksand

Also, always reminds me of my favourite opinion polling:

[HVC]

I mean I can get the delusion, people aren't really aware how big or strong some animals are, but elephant? Seriously!?!

[Grey Fox]

I mean I can get the delusion, people aren't really aware how big or strong some animals are, but elephant? Seriously!?!

We should focus on the 28 to 33% that thinks that a rat can kill them.