A message for Pierre Poilievre

For you, Pierre:




As a constituent, I am disgusted, but not entirely surprised by the latest shenanigans of Conservative MP for Nepean Carleton Pierre Poilievre. Now, it seems, he is on the warpath against the Ontario government's latest decision to reinstate the funding of sex reassignment surgeries under OHIP.

He says:

"Wait times are still too long and we need to ensure that every single dollar goes to medically necessary treatments," - Pierre Poilievre MP for Nepean Carleton (Con)

He seems to want to claim this is fiscally irresponsible but a close look at the facts shows it to be a little different than he is letting on. To put this into perspective:

• The expected annual cost is less than $300 000. When the Mike Harris Tories removed this from OHIP in 1998, it was costing about $120 000. That works out to roughly $40 per person per year for every person in Ontario. Or about 77 cents per week, less than a small double-double.
  
• The Center for Addictions and Mental Health deems this surgery medically necessary. One might note that OHIP covers the costs for "medically unnecessary" surgeries all the time - removal of cysts, fixing of protruding ears etc.
• The procedure IS covered in most other provinces, including Alberta, Poilievre's home province (he represents an Ottawa riding only after living here for 3 months after dropping out of school...and there are questions as to whether he really lived in the riding at the time), so Ontario would only be joining the rest of the country.
  

So the question is, why, if this procedure is cheap, deemed medically necessary by the medical community and is covered by virtually every other province (save Quebec) is Pierre railing against Ontario? Do you suppose he is trying to pile-on with Jim Flaherty in attacking the McGuinty government for purely partisan reasons? Do you think he is trying to deflect his social conservative base away from his troubling double speak in the In and Out Scandal, including his possible invovlement? Do you think he is trying to change the channel on his own despicable treatment of Gen. Romeo Dallaire last week? Is it possible that he wants people in his riding to forget that his many announcements about getting funding for a bridge were just announcements of funds that the city had already secured, long before, without Pierre?

I'm having trouble understanding why he would make hay out of something that the CPC has traditionally argued, ad nauseum, is the sole purvue of the provinces - health care - other than to pick a fight that riles the base. I can only think that Pierre, in his typical fashion, is trying to manufacture an issue so people won't notice that his is an incompetent demagogue and an idiot.

No wonder people in this country don't like any of the parties and no longer want to vote.

PS Pierre, feel free to pass that message above on to Jason Kenney too, mkay?

Note:

As a libertarian, I do not support a state monopoly on health care, so I am not arguing for that position. I am arguing that Pierre's seeming 'fiscal conservative' concern over this is nothing of the sort. If this were not sex re-assignment surgeries for icky transsexuals, he wouldn't care. If this were not Ontario he wouldn't care (as is clear by his not caring that Alberta and the other western provinces fund this procedure). He only cares because he thinks he can use this to his political advantage, there is no principles involved.

I would prefer a truly free system where doctors aren't subject to artificial caps on their numbers and people could choose to get health coverage from both insurance companies AND from non-profit or not-for-profit organizations (like professional societies, unions, service clubs etc). Where choice is real and the market isn't slanted by state regulation in favour of corporations over cooperatives. But that is the subject of an entirely different post....

Beyond the Pale

Apparently there is nothing Stephen Harper will not say in order to try to embarrass and smear his political opponents. I used to think the "soft on child porn" press release from 2004 was an aberration, the work of some too-keen lackey that somehow got through. I'm not so sure any more, after the disgust display of partisan hackery and drive by smearing we saw in Question Period today.

Apparently it is okay for our Prime Minister to imply that, via guilt by association, that a member of another party is somehow implicated in the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. That somehow, the Liberal Party is not supporting an extension to the anti-terror legislation because they wish to cover up for one of their members.

Navdeep Singh Bains, the Member for Mississauga-Brampton South, was 9 when Air India occurred. His father-in-law is a witness, not a suspect. Yet he and his family were singled out for a partisan attack. And despite a personal appeal from Bains, Harper has declined to apologize for dragging his family through the mud.

Point to consider, Mr. Harper - the RCMP has had 6 years to use the provisions of the anti-terrorism act to investigate the Air India attack. In that time we have had a verdict in a trial and a review by Bob Rae. The RCMP has been investigating this for over 20 years. To think that now the investigation is under threat because of the Liberals won't extend the anti-terror legislation is a lie. This too is cheap, fabricated political opportunism by the same government that is trying to keep evidence secret, contrary to what Justice John Major is ordering. If memory serves, this is how the Air India bombers got away with it in the first place.

Point to consider, Mr. Harper - the only time Canada has faced a serious terrorist threat since 9-11 (indeed since Air India) has been the "Toronto 17". They were caught with good old fashioned police work, warrants and a sting operation. They were reported by teenage Canadian Muslims. The new anti-terror measures are not needed, unused, and contrary to liberty.

It is quite clear that Stephen Harper will spread any myth, any lie, any outrageous conspiracy theory as long as he thinks it will get him his precious majority. God help us all then.

I challenge Stephen Harper to try and make that allegation outside the floor of the House of Commons. If he is so sure it is right, say it outside the House and see what the family of Mr. Bains and the Liberal Party do then.

Stephen Harper has demonstrated he has no honour, no morals, no ethics and no scruples. He does not deserve to be president of a student's council, let alone Prime Minister of Canada. Frankly, none of them do, but Harper most especially.

I tell you, I am more convinced than ever my recent change in outlook is the right one. After looking at that, how can anyone seriously think any of those power thirsty idiots has anybodies interests in mind by their own?

Update:

Harper is continuing to be a feckless bastard and continues to hide behind the Air India families. Predictable. Sad, disgusting and predictable.