Why The Rush? Is Conservative Panic Driving So-Called "Scandals"?

For awhile I thought that it was Andrew Scheer... That he had convinced himself that if only he could lie loud enough and hard enough and often enough, he might topple the government and the CPC would let him stay and he could be PM... 

But then other pieces began to come together. Why do you suppose the CPC is engaged in a say-anything, do-anything hell-bent panic-stricken drive to get the Liberals out? Power, certainly. But they had power before... 

They didn't do nearly half of what they wanted to, and much of what they did has been reversed. Quite a bit of legislation has been overturned in constitutional challenges. 

A scorecard of the Harper government's wins and losses at the Supreme Court of CanadaIn one of starkest examples in Canadian history of two branches of government openly turning against one another, the red robed members Supreme Court of Canada have spent months systematically shooti…https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/scoc-harper-gov-scorecard-741324

Harper exhibited "charter activism", in opposition to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It can be justifiably stated that Harper hates the Charter. He hates it for a number of reasons, not the least is that it was created by a Trudeau. 

Harper's Charter Activism - Policy OptionsWhen it came to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Stephen Harper was often anything but an incrementalisthttps://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/03/13/harpers-charter-activism/

He was so peeved by what he called "activist judges", one of many nods to American right wing jingoism, that he attempted to vilify the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. 
cbc.ca/news/politics/…

Now, why, you might ask, do I keep bringing up Stephen Harper? He was voted out as PM in 2015. He resigned his seat rather than sit in opposition to another Trudeau. It's because the CPC is still Stephen Harper's party. 

Jason Kenney and Scott Moe both have Harper on their provincial payrolls, directing their governments. And you can bet Scheer and whomever takes his place will have Harper on speed-dial looking for direction, advice, orders... 

Varcoe: Former PM Stephen Harper on Alberta's new economic recovery councilA 12-member panel, led by economist Jack Mintz, will be advising Premier Jason Kenney on issues surrounding the province's economic recoveryhttps://calgaryherald.com/business/varcoe-former-pm-stephen-harper-on-albertas-new-economic-recovery-council

cbc.ca/news/canada/sa…

Harper is still running the CPC. He may be relegated to being Oz, the man behind the curtain, but he is not done what he tried to do to Canada.

 He blames Canadian media for his defeat, which is amusing as US companies own almost all Canadian media. 

Former prime minister speaks about the liberal bias in Canadian mediaFormer Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Dennis Prager discussed the extreme media bias in Canada, making it more difficult for conservatives to get a foothold in Canadian politics.https://thepostmillennial.com/former-prime-minister-speaks-about-the-liberal-bias-in-canadian-media

And so, given that Harper is still very much in play, and even if he wasn't, his acolytes still occupy most CPC seats, one might wonder what has precipitated this full-on barrage of made-up scandals directed at the Liberal Party. 

Well, the amending formula for the constitution requires 2/3 of the provinces representing at least 50% of the population, and senate approval, to agree to re-open the constitution, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 
solon.org/Constitutions/….

Right now, the conservatives control Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. And Quebec has shifted right and are amenable. There's there 2/3 of provinces and 50% of the population. 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:…

But Saskatchewan has an election coming up in November 2020. If, on the outside chance, the good folks of Saskatchewan decide they want a change of government, the perfect constellation allowing a re-opening of the constitution is gone. 

It is, I grant you, a slim chance. But the CPC are not about to let this opportunity slip away without a huge ugly fight. 

If they can get all the stars aligned, they can eradicate the Charter and change the constitution, so that none of their legislation can ever be overturned in the courts again. They will have absolute power. 

This is an ambition talked about in conservative circles. They want to offload federal responsibilities onto the provinces, create a "small" federal government, And be free to pass whatever laws they please without interference. 

This is tantamount to completely rewriting what Canada is. People need to understand this. Without our constitution and charter as they stand now, many people will be vulnerable to having their rights stripped away. Universal health care would be in jeopardy. 

It could open the door to two-tiered health care, normalize for-profit education, introduce for-profit prisons, where the prison corporations can sue provinces or the feds if the supply of slave labour is not kept to a certain level. 

Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration: U.S. Growth in Private Prisons | The Sentencing ProjectThe War on Drugs and harsher sentencing policies, including mandatory minimum sentences, fueled a rapid expansion in the nation’s prison... Read More »https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/capitalizing-on-mass-incarceration-u-s-growth-in-private-prisons/

In short, if the CPC get what they want, if they can topple the Liberal government before they lose the necessary number of provinces to open the constitution and gut it, we are looking at becoming a clone of the US. 

Please remember that Harper hates Canada and everything we stand for. 

Text of Harper's speechhttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/text-of-harpers-speech/article1131985/

He would dearly love to see us Americanized, as would his proteges in the CPC. And the UCP (Kenney, looking straight at YOU). 

Fortunately, I believe Canadians have a lot more sense than to vote for the CPC. We should be seeing now, from what is going on in Alberta and Ontario, and Manitoba, and the rest of the conservative led provinces, that they are not acting in our best interests. 

The public good is not a concept they extol. They are in it for themselves and the corporations who reward them. How do you suppose CPC MPs got so rich under Harper? Not from their salaries as MPs, that's for darned sure. 

The whole lot of them need to be audited, and then tossed to the curb. They are not here for us. This is not your grandparents' conservative party. This is an offshoot of the US Republican Party. Do not be confused. 

They want to remake Canada and not for the better. This is why they are so desperate to get into power before provincial governments change hands. 

Why We Must Defend Canadian Healthcare

Canadian Conservative Parties: There is so much you do not understand about Canadians, it's hard to know where to begin, but I will start with health care. 

You see, most Canadians really treasure our universal health care. We are happy to pay taxes knowing that we and our neighbours and Canadians across the country can access the care they need, regardless of their ability to pay. 

We are proud that no one in Canada goes bankrupt paying medical bills, and people aren't dying because they are too poor to visit a doctor. 

We like to think our doctors and other health care professionals are doing medicine because they truly want to help people; not because they want to live in a mansion and drive a Ferrari. 

We are deeply uncomfortable with anyone who tries to profit from the misfortune of another. In the US, this would be private health corporations, private hospitals, private clinics, and insurance companies. 

Health care should be about making people well, or at least comfortable. It should not be about making other people rich. In the US, the healthcare industry is about making money, not helping sick people get well. 

Certainly some healthcare workers do care about patients. But the industry, as a whole, could just as easily be making widgets. It's just that healthcare is more lucrative. 

When the discussion is focused on return on investment, market share/market segmentation, competitive advantages, growth strategies, etc, you are talking about a for-profit enterprise. This is a thing that exists to generate wealth for investors.

The $11.9 Trillion Global Healthcare Market: Key Opportunities & Strategies (2014-2022) - ResearchAndMarkets.comThehttps://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190625005862/en/11.9-Trillion-Global-Healthcare-Market-Key-Opportunities

This is completely a separate thing from providing compassionate care to people who need it. This thinking cuts corners to increase profits, and results in withdrawal of services from unprofitable areas (remote, low population, poor). 

The insertion of profit as the metric of success increases the cost of everything. Having multiple providers competing for the same products (gloves, syringes, sutures, pharmaceuticals, etc) makes the costs of those products rise. 

Hospitals and clinics will compete to get the best staff. This increases their cost of doing business. Marketing of services adds to the overhead. All these costs get passed on to the consumer - you with your ailment or injury. 

A two-tier system would syphon off the most qualified practitioners, leaving those who lack the resources to pay with a much lower standard of care. One type of care for the wealthy and another for the poor. 

Here is a video explaining some of the differences between a US for-profit kind of health care, & Canada's universal health care. Note: one big criticism, the exclusion of pharmaceuticals from health care, is on track to be resolved with pharmacare.

If that video made you feel discouraged about our universal health care, check out the situation in the US. Really, watch this one for sure!

We Canadians see what is going on in the US, with people trying to pay for their surgery or chemo or childbirth with a go-fund-me. The health care industry in the US sees Canada as a massive untapped market from which they could reap even greater profits. 

We don't want that. Canadians, by and large, do not want to be exploited by for-profit health corporations. 

Conservative parties in Canada are lobbied by healthcare and insurance corporations. They also have a fundamental belief that healthcare should provide someone with a profit. There should be investors and user pay, not this pooling of resources we have now. 

This is one key area in which 1/3 of Canadians and one kind of political party differs radically from the majority of Canadians. So, Mssrs Scheer, Kenney, Ford, Moe, and Pallister, you and your friends need to keep your mitts off our healthcare! 

I would like to add, as a post-script, that you cannot sell your blood in Canada. You can in the US. Right now it is prohibited in Canada to sell blood, organs, tissue, sperm, eggs or embryos. The reason for this is simple. 

Allowing people to sell bits of their bodies creates the potential for dire exploitation of those with little or no means, and creates the possibility of them negatively impacting their health and well-being just to get a few dollars.

Corporations have no feelings. They exist to create wealth. Therefore it is not surprising that some are encroaching into the area of paying for plasma. And it is a thin edge of the wedge.

10 things to know about Canada's pay-for-plasma landscape | CBC NewsA pay-for-plasma blood clinic that recently opened in Saskatoon is raising questions about the liquid left behind when blood cells and platelets are removed. Here are 10 things to know about Canada's…https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/paid-plasma-blood-donations-canada-1.3480763