Friday October 16, 2009, 3:47 pm
On April 30, 2009, all four parties supported Bill C-6 without protest. True, MP Paul Szabo (Liberal, Mississauga North) and MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP, Winnipeg North) wanted assurances that C-6, to amend the Hazardous Products Act, would not affect regulation of natural health products. Judy Wasylycia-Leis reminded parliamentarians: “The furor that erupted after the introduction of Bill C-51 [to amend food and drugs regulation] and C-52 [the former version of C-6] last year was a result of the fact that the government failed to consider the need to clearly differentiate natural health products from current drug legislation.”



Indeed, the pernicious fact is that C-51, C-52, and C-6 share regulatory provisions that were and are constitutionally insupportable and make a mockery of current medical and environmental science.



The Conservatives promised that C-6 has nothing to do with natural health products, pointing to Clause 4 (1). What they didn’t say, and what the Opposition failed to recognize, is that if C-6 were to become law, any sort of consequential amendment to food and drugs legislation could be made, and that this could happen by a mere Order in Council, without any parliamentary debate. Nobody would know. This extraordinary power is written into Bill C-6, which also is explicitly exempted from the mandatory requirements of the Statutory Instruments Act, against which all Bills must be checked to ensure that they are in harmony with the Constitution. The authors of C-6 must know why they did that. Tested for its constitutionality, C-6 would not survive.

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Friday October 16, 2009, 4:25 pm

Thanks for posting this, Karen!

Saturday October 17, 2009, 10:04 am
And thanks Carole for tuning me into this mockery of democracy and the Stephen Harper sideshow. I'm mad as hell about this. I just hope our senate can save our skins on this one.

Saturday October 31, 2009, 9:13 am
Natural health options should always be available, When we are ill, or just trying to maintain our state of good health, we are entitled to decide on the treatment method.

Tuesday November 3, 2009, 4:07 am
Thank you Karen. As a Canadian, I have little faith in our parties. They are all liars, cheats and have there own agendas.

I think in the next election, I will vote for the Animal Liberation Party, or not at all because here in Canada, I have no regard for extreme left or what we have now, extreme right, and the center, they just mope around.

No wonder so many are jaded in politics. I come from a political family and I will tell you Karen in politics in Canada, what they want they will get, to heck with us.

As they say in the Commons Karen, "SHAME"~!

Nick J Davis
Toronto ON Canada

Tuesday November 3, 2009, 6:43 am
You're so right Nick. My MP keeps calling himself "your voice in Parliament". The Conservatives like to give the illusion that we have a voice, but all the while, they are busy constructing barriers to our right to be heard......ie: speak all you want; we're not listening. Send a letter to the federal government at any level and you either don't get a response, or you get deflected or stonewalled or your issue gets sent to the big trashcan that is 'the bureaucracy'. The alternatives??? Michael Ignatieff has yet to prove his competence and has been ineffective so far, and Jack Layton who professes to be for the 'little guy' responded to our mail with a form letter that did not even touch on the issues we raised with him. The Green Party was the only party who responded to our issues, but they have as yet to get a foot in the door.

At a debate of our candidates during the last campaign, there was a last-minute candidate added. I don't know if you remember the fella; his name is Julian Ichem - the chocolate milk in Stockwell Day's face guy. He is a member of the 'Marxist-Leninist Party'. We kind of chuckled when we figured out he was participating in the debate, but it made for an interesting evening as he raked the Conservative MP over the coals with his gritty commentary and pointed questions.

So it's little wonder some of us fee like there are just no viable leadership alternatives. Maybe that's why Obama has so much appeal to Canadians.