This is Why I Vote NDP. They actually care. It's that simple!
NDP's MP, Peter Julian, hammers the Liberal government about failure to support disabled Canadians in the pandemic. It took 7 months for the Liberal government to get a payment to disabled Canadians (which only 40% of disabled Canadians qualified for).
They even prorogued (shut down) Parliament for a month while disabled Canadians languished. Yet, it took 4 days for the Liberal government to make available, $750 BILLION in liquidity supports for the banks.
Trudeau said he wants universal pharmacare but the NDP bill would have imposed rules on provinces.
New Democrats are questioning the Trudeau government’s commitment to universal pharmacare after Liberal MPs helped torpedo an NDP MP’s private member’s bill to establish a legal framework for the national program.
Bill C-213, the “Canada Pharmacare Act” tabled by veteran B.C. MP Peter Julian, was defeated Wednesday at second reading by a vote of 295-32, with the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, and the vast majority of Liberals voting against the proposed legislation.
The bill won support from two Liberal MPs, Toronto’s Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and New Brunswick’s Wayne Long, as well as Ontario Tory MP Ben Lobb. Three Green MPs and two Independents, including Jody Wilson-Raybould, also voted in favour of the bill.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a statement the vote was a chance for Liberals to act on a promise they’ve “been making for over 24 years,” dating back to the 1997 election.
“Today, they made it clear that they have no interest in helping Canadians who are struggling to afford their prescription medication — they would rather side with big pharma and abandon families across the country,” Singh said.
Julian’s bill was first tabled a year ago and re-introduced in September after Parliament’s prorogation. It aimed to “establish criteria and conditions” provinces and territories must have in place before the federal government would make an unspecified annual “cash contribution” — private member’s bills cannot direct the government to spend money — to implement a pharmacare program in those jurisdictions.
The proposed legislation specified that, in order to receive federal funding, provincial and territorial governments would need to show a plan for a system that would be publicly administered by an authority accountable to the provincial government, universal, comprehensive, accessible, and “portable,” meaning citizens wouldn’t need “a minimum period of residence” before being covered.
New Democrats argued the bill would act on the 2019 report from the government’s advisory panel on pharmacare, which was chaired by former Ontario Liberal health minister Eric Hoskins.
As studies have shown, pharmacare will save lives. Hundreds of Canadians die from preventable causes because they lack drug coverage or can’t afford their medication. Almost a million Canadians spend less on necessities like food or heat in order to pay for prescriptions.
TORONTO, 25 February 2021 – The United Steelworkers union is calling out the federal Liberals for breaking their promise to move forward with pharmacare by refusing to support the NDP’s pharmacare bill.
“When the chance came for action on a policy that would save people’s lives, the Liberals failed. They teamed up with the Conservatives and voted ‘No’,” said USW National Director Ken Neumann.
“Why did they vote against it? Was it because they don’t really plan to keep their promises? Was it because it was an NDP bill and they can’t stand to work with other parties for the benefit of Canadians?” said Neumann.
For over two decades, the Liberals have promised to bring in pharmacare. Prior to the 2019 election, the Liberal government appointed an advisory council chaired by former Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins to review pharmacare. The former Liberal minister’s council recommended a universal, single-payer public pharmacare system in its 2019 report. The NDP’s Bill C-213 reflected those recommendations.
The USW has long supported a pharmacare plan that is universal, public, accessible, comprehensive and portable. The NDP’s Bill C-213, brought forth by MP Peter Julian (New Westminster–Burnaby), would have brought in pharmacare for Canadians modelled on the Canada Health Act that would improve the health and lives of millions of Canadians.
As studies have shown, pharmacare will save lives. Hundreds of Canadians die from preventable causes because they lack drug coverage or can’t afford their medication. Almost a million Canadians spend less on necessities like food or heat in order to pay for prescriptions.
Pharmacare would bring more fairness and better health outcomes to those with lower incomes who have more difficulty accessing the drugs they need including women, racialized people, Indigenous people and young people.
“Union members tend to have better health care and drug benefits than workers who do not belong to a union that negotiates on their behalf,” said Neumann. “But all workers – and all Canadians – deserve public drug coverage to ensure that people can access the medication they need.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many workers have lost their jobs or benefits coverage. Pharmacare would mean all Canadians could get the medication they need to stay healthy without having to pay out of pocket or worry about not being able to afford the cost.
“The USW thanks Peter Julian and the NDP for their work on pharmacare,” said Neumann. “We will keep fighting for pharmacare to save lives and improve the health of all Canadians."
“This is my sixth federal election campaign and the first time I've refused to attend an all-candidates meeting, and I believe it's important to communicate why. Knowing the history of the organizer, I refuse to provide a platform for hate.”
A controversial all-candidates meeting in New Westminster-Burnaby candidates has been cancelled after several candidates declined to attend and the venue pulled the plug on the rental.
Yesterday, NDP candidate Peter Julian raised concerns about an all-candidates meeting scheduled for tonight at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. His concern centred around the fact that it was being organized by Paul Dirks, lead pastor of New West Community Church in Sapperton, who was involved in a 2017 campaign against Bill C-16, which would add gender expression and gender identity to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in Canada.
“Paul Dirks is well known for opposing the rights of transgender members of our community and opposing SOGI which is a framework that makes our schools more inclusive,” Julian said in a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday. “This is my sixth federal election campaign and the first time I've refused to attend an all-candidates meeting, and I believe it's important to communicate why. Knowing the history of the organizer, I refuse to provide a platform for hate.”
In the interview, Julian said a bill of this size disrespects Parliament, and will mean only "a few seconds" of debate on each of the clauses within it.
The federal NDP are calling for the divvying up of the government's latest, and largest yet, budget implementation bill.
The government attempted to kick off debate on the massive new piece of legislation on Wednesday, but other procedural matters arose. Though, kicking off the series of other issues that occupied House of Commons’ time, was NDP MP Peter Julian.
He rose to ask the House of Commons Speaker to split up the bill for the purpose of voting on it, saying that he had asked finance officials how many clauses and sub-clauses were in the bill, and nobody was able to tell him. Julian said when even the department is not aware, it calls into question how MPs would have enough time to scrutinize its contents.
He called Bill C-86 “clownish” in size, and much more than an omnibus bill.
“Surely Mr. Speaker we have reached a point where you must intervene. We have reached a point where this is over the line in what is acceptable in any parliamentary democracy… if not where will this end?” Julian said.
The veteran B.C. MP was the first to launch a bid.
NDP MP Peter Julian quit the party's leadership race Thursday, citing low fundraising numbers.
Julian, who has been a B.C. MP since 2004, was the first candidate to launch a bid. He promoted free post-secondary education, a large-scale affordable housing program, and opposition to the Kinder Morgan, Energy East and Keystone XL pipelines and all raw bitumen exports.
His position on pipelines, he said, helped move the other NDP candidates to his side.
