Hard times in Alberta but not in Norway--which also has huge oil resources but which drove a hard bargain with Big Oil & now boasts heritage fund worth $1.3T. Albertans shd be mad at Alberta's political leaders.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
PM admits Canada no longer has vaccine production capability. That's because we privatized Connaught Labs—which contributed brilliantly to medical advances, incl development of polio vaccine. (see my book “The Sport & Prey of Capitalists”). Enough privatization!
#cdnpoli
#canlab
Why is nobody talking about Hillary Clinton as a possible replacement for Joe Biden? She's experienced, has name recognition, knows how to take on Trump -- and won the popular vote by 2.9 million in 2016. She'd also probably relish a rematch against Trump.
Even a child could spot the cruelty in a man who hands over the care of fragile elderly people to companies engaged in bare-knuckle capitalism.
#canlab
#onpoli
Dolly Parton contributed more to cost of developing Moderna vaccine than the company did. Time to create publicly-owned vaccine maker or at least strip Big Pharma of its life-&-death monopoly power.
#cdnpoli
#canlab
#cdnecon
The notion we can't afford strong public programs has always been a scam, but never more than now, with Ontario sitting on $22 billion.
#canlab
#onpoli
A wealth tax would only apply to about 6,000 Canadians. If you're in this hyper-privileged group, then you're a lucky duck indeed and could probably survive the blow of a small 1or 2% tax on your gigantic fortune.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
NEW: Our latest report by
@andrew_ajackson
outlines how a
#WealthTax
could be achieved, and how it would ensure greater fairness, while generating billions in revenue for vital public services needed now and in the future.
#cdnpoli
I've never understood why taxpayers give really large amounts of money to corporations without getting any stock in return. If the public is obliged to subsidize private wealth-creation, we should at least share in the ownership.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Was Mike Harris corrupt or simply stupid in signing 407 privatization deal? And now here we go again. It's outrageous that Doug Ford refuses to release contract for giant luxury spa at Ontario Place. What's he hiding?
#onpoli
@ONPlace4All
Canada once had a publicly-owned lab that could've helped with coronavirus crisis--but we sold it! The foolish privatization of Connaught Labs comes back to haunt us. My column, based on research from my new book The Sport & Prey of Capitalists.
#canlab
Ottawa spends $1B a year on medical research, but we have no say over what happens to the results. Time for Canada to create a publicly-owned pharma company—like the superb one we foolishly privatized.
#canlab
#publichealth
NEW on the Broadbent Blog:
@LindaMcQuaig
writes about why now is the time to nationalize pharmaceutical production in Canada, drawing on the once public Connaught Labs as an example.
#cdnpoli
Hard to believe Canada didn't ban assault weapons yrs ago. Outrageous that the gun used at Ecole Polytechnique has been legal since that 1989 mass murder. Let's get this ban done NOW! No excuses!
#cdnpoli
According to today's Globe & Mail: "The federal Conservative Leader said economic development is more important than dealing with climate change"--thereby eliminating himself as a serious person in any Canadian election.
#ClimateCrisis
#cdnpoli
"Over generations, Ontarians fundraised & built our hospitals...They are ours, our inheritance...With no mandate, 68 MPPs voted to privatize core of these public assets.": Natalie Mehra
@OntarioHealthC
#onpoli
The case for a wealth tax is breathtakingly strong. It could fund universal pharmacare, free university tuition plus major housing & transit investments, says CCPA. It also has support of 90% of Canadians. Let’s get this damn thing on the agenda.
#cdnpoli
Health expert says Canada needs domestic vaccine producer, Globe reports without mentioning we had world-leading vaccine producer (Connaught) till Mulroney privatized it. Let's create new publicly-owned pharma comp & keep control of it this time.
#cdnpoli
Canada ran up a massive debt fighting WWll, and then went on to enjoy decades of prosperity. That's the debt story we should be studying now--but deficit hawks want to scare us with false stories about the "debt wall."
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Vaccine shortage is more evidence of stupidity of Mulroney's privatization of Connaught Labs. In 50s, Connaught was key to development & production of polio vaccine. We need new public-owned pharma comp now. (see 'The Sport & Prey of Capitalists')
#cdnpoli
No, Ottawa protest isn’t class war between elite & workers. Most Cdn workers vaccinated. Protest organized by right-wingers who, 3 yrs ago, staged anti-immigrant protest which flopped. This time they scored because police allowed their trucks into capital.
Breaking EKOS poll:
42% of Canadians want to impose economic and/or diplomatic sanctions against Israel over annexation.
74% of Canadians want Trudeau to oppose Israeli annexation in some form.
Report by
@CJPME
,
@IndJewishVoices
&
@unjppi_info
:
Canada's super-rich have more wealth than ever before. 79% of Cdns support a wealth tax that wd only hit those with more than $20m in assets. Trudeau's failure to act reveals whose side he's on.
#canlab
#cdnecon
#cdnpoli
Stand down, deficit hawks! Bank of Can says interest rates will stay near 0 till 2023, making this an excellent time for large-scale government spending to fight climate change & inequality.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Forget all that privatization pep talk about boldness & innovation. How about trying something really new: properly funding public health care.
#canlab
#onpoli
Outrageous! Before privatization, Canada's Connaught Labs was world leader in vaccines. It helped develop polio vaccine & helped WHO run global vaccination campaign, resulting in smallpox eradication. Now we can’t even vaccinate ourselves!
#canlab
#cdnpoli
We used to have public banking through post office. But private banks didn't like competition & pressured Ottawa to shut it down--a history I tell in my new book The Sport & Prey of Capitalists. Today 2m Cdns rely on payday loan comps. Time to bring back public banking!
#canlab
In order to access CERB benefits, many in my riding need to rely on predatory cheque cashing services. The solution is clear - we need postal banking now.
Yes, Connaught Labs produced many vaccines for Canadians, including diphtheria, smallpox & polio. Connaught was privatized by Mulroney gov which carried out other foolish privatizations to please business interests. (Details in my recent book The Sport & Prey of Capitalists.)
Questions 4
@JustinTrudeau
@PattyHajdu
&
@JackHarrisNDP
Did Canada have domestic capacity to produce vaccines? On whose watch & how did we lose that capacity? Given that lack of domestic capacity, why were we not better prepared to be one of the first countries get Covid vaccine?
The interviewer here clutching his pearls as the guest tells him "who cares" about billionaires losing money if companies go under is something to behold
Update: the wealth of 47 Cdn billionaires now totals $270B--a rise of $78B during pandemic even as 5.5 million Cdns lost their jobs. I wonder if Trudeau is planning to announce a wealth tax in next wk's budget. And if not, why not?
#canlab
You're right, Jake. Connaught Labs was one of the most innovative & effective vaccine producers in the world--before Mulroney privatized it. If we still had Connaught, Canadians might all be vaccinated by now. Certainly we'd be far better off.
#cdnpoli
While I have the 🇨🇦 Conservative Party’s attention for criticizing PM Trudeau let me also state that former PM Mulroney’s decision regarding Connaught Labs was a short-sighted disaster
Let's not forget that Bob Bell is former deputy health minister for Ontario and former CEO of the University Health Network. He knows a privatization scam when he sees one.
Shouldice is an example of how For Profit surgery “up-sells” patients.
Most hernia surgery in ON requires no overnight stay. Shouldice charges patients (paid out of pocket or private insurance) for in-hospital stays.
This shows the $$ risk associated with for profit care.
Why is Canadian Press writing this sort of puff piece about a Cdn cabinet minister? Freeland's role, helping Trump regime undermine democratically-elected gov in Venezuela, is shameful, not something to be lauded.
In the coming battle over shaping Canada's post-pandemic economy, let's ignore the lectures from Jason Kenney, whose slavishly pro-corporate model has been a train wreck for Alberta.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
"Populist" Poilievre claims to back workers but he actually sides with their bosses--crushing unions, which have helped workers afford a good life.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Cuba has developed its own COVID vaccine--soon to be given to Cubans, tourists & other countries. Shows what a publicly-owned pharma comp can achieve! Too bad we don't have one in Canada.
#cdnpoli
#COVID19Ontario
Canada's Connaught Labs helped develop polio vaccine, solving global health crisis of 50s. But Ottawa foolishly privatized Connaught in 80s. Let's stop privatizing & start expanding public domain. From my new book The Sport & Prey of Capitalists.
#canlab
Not sure how Univ of Guelph will struggle by without Chancellor Martha Billes, heiress to Cdn Tire fortune & oil investor. But at least the univ's board of governors did its part to help save the planet. Well done!
#climate
A century of economic growth grinds to a halt. Annual growth in Canada's per capita output, adjusted for inflation, exceeded 3 per cent in the 1960s. It has been slowing ever since and in the last decade has petered out altogether. This is a crisis!
It's ironic & infuriating Canadians won't get COVID vaccine as fast as others--since Canada's Connaught Labs used to be a world leader in vaccines and always put Cdns first. Then Mulroney gov privatized Connaught.
#cdnpoli
#canlab
Bank of Canada is creating money to pay for vast gov spending increase during pandemic. Bay St. keen to stop it. But it shows how we can pay for future needs--exactly what Bay St. fears. "Genie is out of the bottle," says
@JimboStanford
#canlab
#cdnpoli
This is disgusting. Meat-eater or not, any person with feelings will be repelled by such cruelty and demand more public control over what goes on at factory farms.
This is a "spiked muzzle" 😱
It's designed to wean her calf by being so painful for the mother cow that she'll push her baby away to avoid the pain.
The welfare of farm animals in today’s industrialized system is a low priority. 💔
It's unbelievable how rarely the story of this great Canadian public enterprise comes up in media talk about vaccines. We'd be so much better off if Connaught hadn't been privatized. It was one of the world's leading vaccine producers--and we Canadians owned it!
Pierre Polievre has had free public dental care for nearly 20 years.
He has a personal chef and mansion paid for by taxpayers.
And this guy claims he will spend the summer squashing a budget providing dental care to seniors.
Not on my watch Mr. Stornoway.
Cuba soon to have its own COVID vaccine. Meanwhile, Ottawa shovels money at Big Pharma hoping to ensure vaccines for Cdns. Why not invest that money in our own pharma company--like Cuba does & Canada did successfully for 7 decades?
#cdnpoli
#canlab
Global South countries, led by South Africa and India, have requested a suspension of the WTO's patent rules to enable them to manufacture or import affordable generic versions of the COVID-19 vaccine. Shockingly, Britain and other rich countries have refused.
Wrong. Green New Deal is reminiscent of Canada's WWII effort when we created 28 Crown corporations that transformed our economy to achieve a goal considered too important to be left to the whims of private enterprise. (I tell the story in The Sport & Prey of Capitalists.)
This whole Green New Deal™ thing is an Americanism. It has no resonance in Canadian history or politics. Would that groups in Canada *cough*NDP*cough* stopped importing it like it meant something.
My take on death & profiteering in long-term care business. Why do we allow profit-making in government-funded care of highly vulnerable citizens?
#canlab
#onpoli
#LTC
Of course, I don’t argue gov ownership wd solve all problems nor that gov should run everything! I do argue that, as privatization has become dogma, we’ve foolishly sold off valuable entities, that gov shd expand public sphere – esp. where business failing
But the Palestinians ARE victims--of a military occupation. I sure hope the CBC ran a counter-commentary from the Palestinians. At the very least, our national broadcaster should give both sides. Even better, it should convey the immense power imbalance against the Palestinians.
When
@CBCNews
asks Harper’s Amb to Israel
@VivianBercovici
about Palestinians excluded from Israel’s vaccination program, she criticizes the “mainstream media” for “perpetuating the Palestinian narrative of being victims,” ends by saying Hamas prefers firing rockets to vaccines.
LISTEN: Federal Environment Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, tells
@CBCStephenQuinn
it would be silly for Canada not to extract natural resources for energy in the coming decades.
Canada rarely lives up to the image it cultivates as an international good guy. But this is particularly disgraceful -- Ottawa siding with Big Pharma & other rich nations in blocking 100 countries from gaining easier access to COVID vaccine.
#cdnpoli
Trudeau's new animal welfare law protects animals from unwanted sexual advances, but sadly it does nothing to protect them from the far more serious abuse they suffer daily on factory farms.
@JohnOberg
@MercyForAnimals
@TorontoPigSave
Absolutely. Canada's publicly-owned Connaught Labs was a world leader in vaccines & would have outpaced Big Pharma in developing a COVID vaccine. Connaught should never have been privatized, but it's not too late to create a new public pharma company.
#canlab
Me: "Isn’t that hypocritical, that [Israel] has nuclear weapons that you don’t allow the IAEA to check?"
Ehud Olmert: "I'm not under investigation here and I'm not under police inquiry."
My exchange with ex-Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on nukes:
The pandemic vividly demonstrates the foolishness of our decades-long embrace of privatization--with particularly tragic results in nursing homes. Time to expand, not shrink, our public sphere.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Media ignoring fact that CN strike is about rail safety, not wages. The weakening of rail safety regulations led directly to horrific 2013 Lac Megantic rail disaster that killed 47.
There's a chapter in
@LindaMcQuaig
's terrific new book on the privatization of CN, which once set standards for respecting unions and connecting remote communities, and whose national radio network was the inspiration and basis for the creation of CBC.
During WW2, Canada created 28 Crown corporations that performed brilliantly, transforming our economy for the war effort. Today's existential threat--climate change--demands a government-led intervention on a similar scale. Hard to say we can't do it.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
An enormous mobilization, on a scale similar to the one orchestrated by C.D. Howe, will be essential to fundamentally redesign our economy and society for the global green energy revolution.
#GreenNewDeal
New from
@LindaMcQuaig
.
Trudeau should stop recklessly throwing money at Big Pharma & instead invest in creating our own biotech company--like Connaught Labs, the spectacular Canadian publicly-owned vaccine producer privatized by Mulroney.
#cdnpoli
#canlab
We can have a world that is livable for humans or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few--but we can't have both. That's the real choice on the ballot Sept. 20. The rest is just talkity-talk.
#ClimateEmergency
Is it rocket science to manufacture N95 masks? Instead of relying on "Wild West" market, why doesn't Canadian gov produce these essential masks? We managed more complex national production during WW2.
#canlab
While Cuba sends doctors to help stricken nations during pandemic, Canada shows spirit of international togetherness by imposing sanctions on some of world's poorest nations.
#cdnpoli
Ford doesn't want to draw attention to this before election but health minister revealed Ontario plans to remove ban on private hospitals, opening up province to big expansion of private medicine. Battle to save medicare about to ramp up.
#onpoli
#canlab
True. And not just by Harper —Justin Trudeau also attacked me for saying we had to leave it in the ground if we wanted to avoid climate disaster. Some things don’t change.
#cdnpoli
Yes, Canada's Connaught Labs was a major global player in developing vaccines, including for polio & smallpox. The inspiring Connaught story--and its tragic, misguided privatization--is told in my new book The Sport & Prey of Capitalists.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
As
@LindaMcQuaig
explains, Canada once had a publicly owned pharmaceutical company that could have made a difference in the current coronavirus crisis -- but the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney sold it.
#COVID19
#covid19Canada
NDP should use its leverage to demand parliamentary committee on
#WealthTax
--with full public hearings. That would galvanize public support for already-popular tax on super-rich, especially as business decries deficits & calls for spending cuts.
#cdnpoli
'The private sector always does things better,' say airheads, although never with any proof. In fact, privatization costs us lots. We pay billions in tolls to a foreign company to drive on the 407--with no limit on how high those tolls can go over next 80 yrs.
@WeOwnItCA
#canlab
In "The Sport and Prey of Capitalists",
@LindaMcQuaig
challenges the dogma of privatization which has defined our political era.
Now more than ever, as we grapple with climate change and income inequality, we need to expand, not shrink, our public sphere:
Interesting idea. Cuba's biotech industry is on the brink of developing its own COVID vaccine. It plans to vaccinate Cubans & others from developing nations who can't get vaccines. Trudeau shd call & see if Cuba might be willing to also help Canada.
Other than an NDP majority, I can’t think of an election outcome more consequential than electing
@avilewis
. He’s principled & charismatic – exactly what we need in politics, now more than ever in this climate emergency.
In one week, Israeli occupation forces have shot & killed four Palestinians in the West Bank.
23 July - Mohammad Tamimi, 17
27 July - Shadi Salim, 41
28 July - Mohammed al-Alami, 11
29 July - Shawkat Awad, 20
Killed as they worked, protested, sat in the family car.
Impunity.
This is a race worth watching. An upset is brewing. Something is in the air in South Carolina and it may blow away the political career of Washington’s least principled man.
Yes, why on earth is Canada following Trump in supporting this outrageous interference in another country's affairs? No wonder we didn't win that UN Security Council seat.
I support former MPs
@RomeoSaganash
,
@SvendJRobinson
, Jim Manly &
@LibbyDavies
asking “Why is Canada involved in efforts to overthrow Venezuela’s UN recognized government, a clear violation of the principle of non-intervention in other country’s internal affairs?”
#CdnPoli
After years of being ignored, far-right activist Patrick King can't believe the trucker convoy he helped organize is getting such massive attention--and police pampering--in Ottawa. "I can't stop laughing because this is so awesome."
#cdnpoli
Today in Parliament, the NDP's
@alexboulerice
used his member's statement to call on Canada to condemn Israel's impending annexation of the West Bank.
"A violation of international law must have consequences, and Canada has to show the way."
#cdnpoli
Connaught's old plant still operates here, but is now owned by pharma giant Sanofi, which produces COVID vaccines in US. Cdns will have to wait to get them. Before Mulroney privatized it, Connaught was a world-leading vaccine producer & Canadians were at the front of the line.
You mean Connaught? Thanks to Mulroney it employs hundreds & is the largest biotech facility in Canada. But continue to make uneducated tweets about something that you read in
@TorontoStar
written by a hack
@LindaMcQuaig
.
Read this it's real media...
Actually, public enterprise-–Ont Hydro, Connaught Labs, CNR, etc-–built much of this country. Even a successful private corp like CP got started with massive gov subsidies. So let’s stop mindlessly condemning what we do collectively through government.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Why is the CBC acting like capitalism is a bad thing? The CBC posted an article quoting a university professor who argued the children’s TV show, Paw Patrol, encourages children to embrace capitalism.
Free market capitalism built our country. So lets celebrate it, not condemn it!
These are heartbreaking images of children suffering, of a baby with an amputated leg. Where are our political leaders? Why is there no condemnation from Justin Trudeau?
True. For 70 yrs, Connaught Labs developed affordable medications & contributed to medical breakthroughs—insulin, penicillin, polio vaccine—until it was foolishly privatized in 80s. I tell full tragic story in "The Sport & Prey of Capitalists." We could sure use Connaught today.
It could work like Connaught Labs, the very successful publicly-owned drug manufacturer until privatized by the Conservatives. Basic idea is to create public capacity to make needed medicines via public-funded research to help patients get drugs they need at reasonable costs.
True. But we could have that level of income equality again--and include racial groups and women who were excluded back then. The only obstacle is today's corporate elite, who like getting the lion's share. We just have to out-vote them.
#canlab
#cdnpoli
Once upon a time, in the 50s, a family could own a home, a car, send the kids to college, and vacation to enjoy life, all on one income.. and then we cut taxes on the rich, the wealthy hoarded all the money for themselves, and the middle class died.
Unbelievable. MSNBC's Morning Joe just had Pete Buttigieg on live from Glasgow & didn't ask him a single question abt climate change. Instead Joe kept asking why US workers aren't accepting jobs (Maybe pay is too low?) The planet is frying & all he does is rant against workers.
David Johnston's role in whitewashing Mulroney bribery scandal was far more outrageous yet there was no big media outcry over that. Might have something to do with fact that national media outlets owned by wealthy conservatives.
#cdnpoli
On a quick read-through of the Venezuelan constitution, I couldn't find the section where it specified that Venezuela's president would be chosen by Canada.
#cdnpoli
#HandsOffVenezuela
Great piece. Veering to the right is a bankrupt strategy for the NDP. It should take principled, progressive stands & fight for them tooth & nail--in Alberta & elsewhere.
#cdnpoli
#ndp
Before it became (almost) mainstream,
@avilewis
was championing a “green new deal.”Such clear-sightedness & commitment will be needed if we’re going to start really kicking ass on climate change.
Listening to
@avilewis
at his nomination as NDP candidate for Sunshine Coast, West Van, Sea-to-Sky - so impressed. He will make a difference in Parliament as well as in the NDP. It’ll take a movement to get him elected. ✊🏼❤️🙏🏼
"We don't tell the Saudis how to run their country. But we're happy to tell the Bolivians how to run theirs."
@TomWalkom
on Canada's disgraceful capitulation to US bullying in Latin America.
Canada's media--largely owned by billionaires--rarely allows arguments in favour of taxing billionaires. Not surprising that this debate last night took place on public broadcaster TVO.
#cdnpoli
#onpoli
#canlab
Privatization has become the economic dogma of our times. I'm looking forward to joining
@nikiashton
& others tonight for a talk about the need for more--not less--public ownership. 7 pm, Rhino Bar & Grill, 1249 Queen W. Toronto.
#canlab