Duffy, drugs, and redundancy

ONE:

I never liked Mike Duffy.

And when, at CTV, he became an obese, hale-fellow-well-met caricature of “The Parliamentary Reporter”, whose only journalistic attribute was that he could gain access to any politician he wanted in return for faithfully reporting the spin of the day, “loathing” is perhaps not too strong a word for the quality of my admiration.

I do believe I liked him even less than I like the odious Rex Murphy today.

So Stephen Harper appointing him to the Canadian Senate merely confirmed what I already knew about Harper and his government.

Patrick Brazeau? Pamela Wallin? Mere icing on that cake.

Subsequently, when Duffy et al were caught with their faces fully submerged in the trough, apparently (if reports are to be believed) some people were astonished that Duffy and Harper took advantage of the appointment. Apparently no one could have foreseen that the Senate of Canada would be exploited to satisfy the political desires of the Harper government.

Seriously? Did they think Duffy was being recognized for his outstanding journalism? Did Duffy accept the appointment because of any ambition to subject the laws passed by the House to “sober second thought”? Did someone have to point out the trough to Mr Duffy, and did anyone think it necessary to warn him against immersing himself too deeply?

Of course not. Duffy did exactly what was expected: he raised tons of money for the Conservative Party, spoke to partisans whenever asked, and basked in the limelight and the love. Almost all of it on the Senate's dime, and while making sure that his income was commensurate with his new status.

Like most Canadians, I cheered when Duffy and Co. were outed as the porkers they are, and followed the subsequent political farce, the one that culminated in bribery and the self-serving justice imposed by their fellow Senators, closely.

But I'm mostly over that now. I'm pretty sure almost none of this will stick to Harper by the time there's an election on the line, and I'm pretty sure the Canadian electorate is already feeling even more cynical about politicians. The Senate, which for procedural reasons cannot be abolished, will be discredited even further. 

I expect this cynicism suits the present government, the one that brought in and passed the "Fair Elections Act" (Bill C23, which actually only makes it harder for disadvantaged people to vote) just fine.

None of this is good news for the 60% of Canadians who do not support the Harper government. I wish I saw any indication that the combined opposition was actually serious about taking control, changing government, and cleaning up the mess.

TWO:

Yesterday the CBC did an expose, revealing that too often your local drug store carries expired drugs on its shelves:

After Shoppers Drug Mart recalled one lot of Alesse 21 birth control pills that expired in September 2014 and were sold to about 100 women, a Richmond, B.C., resident sent CBC News photos of a newly purchased non-prescription allergy medication stamped with an expiry date of August 2014. A CBC producer found more on the shelf at the same store.

When CBC News checked a dozen drug stores from three chains in Toronto, journalists found a diabetic nutritional supplement that expired last October, other past due allergy medications, an expired sleep medication and a number of products that expire this month.

OK; that's not good. I think we can safely assume that expired drugs are less effective than they are meant to be, and that's bad. But they're not toxic, and they do contain active ingredients.

On those same shelves one can find homeopathic nostrums, “approved” by Health Canada:

Health Canada is responsible for ensuring that remedies sold to the public are both safe and effective. In recent years, however, Health Canada has allowed various natural health products to enter the market without requiring rigorous proof of effectiveness. Indeed, there are many remedies and homeopathic preparations currently licensed for sale that do not contain any of the allegedly active ingredient. A number of these are hom­eo­pathic “nosodes.”

…

Health Canada continues to assure Canadians that it tests products for safety and efficacy before allowing them to enter the market. All approved homeopathic products are given a DIN-HM number.

And there's more: “Bogus Children’s Remedy Invented by CBC Marketplace Approved by Health Canada” is the headline of a story which pretty much sums up the contents. Follow the URL for the story.

Personally, those stories strike me as a lot more to be really concerned about.

Just saying.

THREE:

There's a war memorial in Ottawa, located just outside the front doors of the Parliament Building.

After someone was seen urinating on it a few years ago, the Conservatives thought it would be a good idea to put a guard there.

So there were two ceremonial guards there when a nutter with a rifle decided to make a statement at Canada's Parliament, and the first thing that nutter did on his way into the building was shoot at both, and kill one.

The thing is, those guards, as is the norm, were armed. They just didn't have any ammunition.

And that seems fine, if you're only protecting the War Memorial from urinators.

So, after Cpl Nathan Cirillo was killed, did the braintrust at the Parliament Buildings decide to provide the guards with ammunition, so they could actually guard the war memorial?

Well no: they provided police protection for the guards at a cost of $425,000/ year.

Frankly, that seems more than a little counter-intuitive.

Not to mention redundant.