Are the potential savings worth handing control of our LRT over to Metrolinx?
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Edmonton Journal
2 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Lorne Gunter: Canada still hasn't seen Carney's promised leadership
The chances of Canada convincing Donald Trump's White House to reverse his tariffs on a wide range of Canadian goods seems remote. There's a possibility cases working their way through the U.S. courts will — maybe within the next six to 12 months — find Trump has overstepped his authority to impose tariffs and reverse them. Article content Who knows, the U.S. Senate may even find its spine and take back much of its Constitutional authority over tariffs. Article content Article content Article content Keep in mind that the Americans' much-touted deals with the E.U., the U.K. and Japan aren't really deals at all. There are no documents, the details are sketchy and the two sides in each now disagree over just what each deal contains. Article content Trump just likes the show of being Mr. Tough Guy, of having other countries' leaders appear to bow before him and kiss his ring. Article content It won't be easy for Canada to get the same kind of 'deal' as those other countries. Trump seems to have a special hate on for Canada. And we are being backburnered by the Trump administration. Our concerns are being handled by mid-level officials, not boss-to-boss, despite Prime Minister Mark 'Elbows Up' Carney insistence that he knows Trump, knows who to deal with him and is uniquely qualified to reach an agreement. Article content Article content If we could even just return to Harper-era export levels with the U.S., Canada would be far less vulnerable. Under Stephen Harper's government, about 75 per cent of our foreign trade was with our southern neighbour. Now, thanks to the Liberals' complete indifference to all things economic, Ottawa has taken the easy path for the last 10 years until we are reliant on the Americans for 90 per cent of our trade. Article content Article content They account for around one-quarter of our GDP, while we account for less than three per cent of theirs. That means Canada has a need for a deal, but lacks leverage. So we need to export more to other countries to make us less susceptible to shocks from the U.S.
Edmonton Journal
4 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
RCMP union pushes for change to help force attract talent from U.S., other countries
Article content For instance, the federation notes only serving or recently inactive police officers can apply through the RCMP's three-week experienced police officer program, provided they meet strict criteria. Article content That excludes a large pool of well-trained public safety personnel, including members of the Canada Border Services Agency, provincial sheriffs, conservation officers and other law enforcement agents who may not meet the threshold, the report says. Article content Forcing these candidates to repeat a full 26-week training program at the RCMP training depot 'creates a barrier to recruitment and results in missed opportunities to bring skilled, experienced candidates into the RCMP,' the report adds. Article content It also says the federal procurement process is too slow and unresponsive to the urgent needs of modern policing, and drains valuable government resources. Article content Article content 'Delays in rolling out life-saving equipment, including service pistols, body armour and body-worn cameras, threaten both officer safety and public trust,' the report says. Article content During the spring election campaign, the Liberals promised to recruit 1,000 more RCMP personnel to tackle drug and human trafficking, foreign interference, cybercrime and car thefts by organized crime. Article content The Liberals also pledged to create a new RCMP academy in Regina and increase pay for cadet recruits. Article content Watson acknowledged the promise to hire more Mounties and said Public Safety recognizes the importance of cadet pay in broader efforts to support recruitment and retention. Article content The police force has been told to trim two per cent of its budget as part of a governmentwide cost-cutting exercise. Sauve said he is 'cautiously optimistic' the Liberal government will follow through on its commitment to strengthen law enforcement, set out in a May mandate letter. Article content Article content The RCMP provides policing services through contracts with all provinces and territories, except Ontario and Quebec. RCMP policing agreements cover much of rural Canada, all of the North and many towns and municipalities in contract provinces. The police federation acknowledges that some continue to ask whether the RCMP should shed its contract policing role across Canada and become more like the FBI by focusing on federal criminal matters. Article content In March, before Mark Carney became prime minister, the Liberals published a paper outlining a new vision for the RCMP. It suggested the force concentrate on federal policing, reflecting its 'essential mandate and where it is best placed to lead investigations.' Article content The federation flatly rejects the idea Article content 'The RCMP's integrated pan-Canadian policing model remains one of its greatest strengths, due to its ability to leverage co-ordination, consistency and efficiency across all jurisdictions,' the June report says.
Winnipeg Free Press
13 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pharmacare at risk
Opinion The federal Pharmacare plan appears to be in jeopardy. In the spring election, Mark Carney promised that he would protect Pharmacare and other valued health care services if he won — contrasting his commitment to protect health care with the cuts that Canadians could expect if they elected Pierre Poilievre. It worked, and Canadians gave the Liberals another term with Carney at the helm. Now in power, the Carney government seems to be backtracking from this promise. As Canada faces unprecedented economic threats from the United States' trade policy, Pharmacare is being increasingly framed as a luxury we cannot afford. But Pharmacare is health care. Access to prescription drugs is life saving and medically necessary, not something that's simply 'nice to have' in times of plenty. Manitoba was the first province to sign onto the federal Pharmacare plan. It's a deal that's worth over $200 million in federal funding. That's a lot of money that provides a lot of help to Manitobans who need it. Still, the current federal Pharmacare plan is far from perfect. It's limited in its coverage, typically only applying to diabetes treatments and contraceptives. In Manitoba, due to the provincial government's leadership, the plan also covers hormone replacement therapies. As important as it is, this limited coverage was only meant to be the first step in developing the federal Pharmacare plan. In this first phase, the federal government committed to signing deals with all the provinces and territories to develop a truly national Pharmacare system. The past federal government set aside $1.5 billion for this initial phase of the program. So far, only Manitoba, PEI, BC, and the Yukon have signed on. Establishing a universal, single-payer Pharmacare plan across the country was always supposed to be the second phase of the federal Pharmacare deal. The new federal health minister is now saying that this is a different government, with a different set of priorities and circumstances. The Liberals claim they will protect the existing deals, but with so few provinces and territories signed on, the whole program could be at risk of being eliminated. Even if the established deals do hold, there is little chance of expanding Pharmacare to offer universal coverage if the federal government is no longer committed to completing the first phase of the program. This is an issue of fairness. It is about adherence to the letter and spirit of the Canada Health Act (CHA). The CHA establishes that all Canadians deserve a common standard of health care services, regardless of which province they live in. A deal that only includes three provinces and one territory doesn't meet that important benchmark. As it currently stands, the federal Pharmacare plan is neither universal nor comprehensive, with access to the program determined by your postal code, not your medical needs. If they are willing to backtrack on their commitment to truly protect Pharmacare for all Canadians, what else will the Carney Liberals try and push through in the name of defending against Trump's tariffs and the economic upheavals they bring with them? Are federal health transfers next on the list of broken promises? What about the Canadian Dental Care Plan? In these challenging times, with much talk of nation- building projects, we must ask ourselves: what kind of nation-building are we investing in? Why is universal health care — so prized by Canadians — not a fundamental plank of this government's planned response to Trump and his threats to Canadian sovereignty? No one is denying that things are tough right now. The cost of living continues to rise. Tariff threats from the United States are becoming realities and jeopardizing the livelihoods of many Canadians. Now more than ever, with so much economic uncertainty and risk of job losses, people need to be able to depend on the public health care system. Manitoba has a Pharmacare deal, for now. But it will take leadership and political will to keep the existing program intact and to push for its full expansion into a system that offers all Canadians universal prescription drug coverage. Thomas Linner is the provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition.
