Murdering Medicare

Leader of the richest Province in Canada, Klein is not only betraying the voters of the nation, he is also selling-out in Gigantic Style to the U.S.A. Alberta -- just reported -- charges the U.S. corporations who pump Alberta oil something like one-third to one-fourth the royalties asked for in, say, the U.S. and other Western countries.

Protecting Alberta's interests? Hardly. It also means that Alberta could -- if it wished to charge adequate oil royalties -- pay for nearly all medicare in Canada and still be one of the richest provinces.

Why doesn't that happen, and why is the whole national Pharmacare issue a sham?

The answer lies in the tremendous pressure of actual lobbying, of tireless blandishment, and of the economic, political, and cultural imperialism of the U.S.A., concentrated without let-up on the governments of Canada AND on particular people in office or seeking office.

The rise of Gordon Campbell to the position of premier of B.C. requires an extended study in this regard. Supported by "independent centres" (partly at least) funded from the U.S.A., allegedly involved in shady bulk membership activities, consistently favoured and assisted by the Right, Asper, monopoly media chain (which advocates integrated North American press and media to erase even a semi-independent Canadian journalism), Campbell climbed to the position of Opposition leader.

Then with the assistance of a highly dubious (unreviewed) RCMP "investigation" to assist the phoney attack on B.C. NDP premier Glen Clark who was taken through a "show trial" in B.C. Supreme Court slick enough to teach Stalin (were he alive) new tricks, Campbell became premier.

My formal request for an investigation of RCMP participation in the Glen Clark destruction, was "improperly" ended, as finally reported by The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. The Commission, however, accepted the termination of the investigation without a whimper.

I say above that Campbell "became premier", but he did not until Ujjal Dosanjh (dubiously "voted" Glen Clark's replacement as NDP premier) announced a week before polling day that he had lost the election to the Liberals, moved silently out of sight, began working for the national Liberal machine, and - Eureka! - is now federal Liberal Minister of Health and Welfare about to "negotiate" on behalf of the universal medicare system with Gordon Campbell and the other medicare wreckers.

Ralph Klein, we remember, made a foray into Foreign Affairs by going to New York to give a sympathetic public lecture a year of so ago. Clearly, U.S. leaders made it obvious to Klein that he should go home, shut up, and work behind the scenes. Such open fawning as he displayed in New York might give Canadians the wrong idea. Besides Foreign Affairs is the domain of the federal government which might be less cooperative if the U.S. began openly supporting the kind of fragmentation Ralph Klein was seeking to foster.

Why doesn't Alberta -- why don't all the premiers , and the Prime Minister -- really work to make medicare the success it could very easily be? That's the first part of the question I've asked. And the answer to that is that political leadership in Canada more and more believes its first loyalty is to the (a) U.S. government and (b) to U.S. corporate, capitalist interests.

As a result Canadian political leadership spends much of its time avoiding, falsifying, aborting, undermining policies and initiatives wanted by the Canadian people and perfectly available to them financially and structurally. Those are policies and initiatives that offend U.S. government and U.S. corporate, capitalist interests, and so they are denied Canadians by their democratically elected Canadian political leaders.

The second part of the question concerns the provincial premiers advocacy of a national pharmacare scheme. Why is it a sham? Roy Romanow, former Saskatchewan premier and head of the federal health care Commission, came as close as he dared-- in a recent speech to doctors in Toronto -- to naming the premiers' initiative a sham.

But even Roy Romanow doesn't grasp the Pharmacare bull by the horns. It is not only a sham because its very proposal is a destructive, diversionary tactic by Toxic Right provincial premiers. It is also a sham by its very structure (if implemented). For it means buying more and more increasingly expensive drugs from the criminally abusive corporate pharmaceutical monopolies (mostly U.S.) that are profitting monstrously and denying healthcare supplies to literally billions on the planet.

Tragically (and perhaps intentionally) the premiers' Pharmacare proposal plays right into the hands of the very worst, largely U.S., anti-human, capitalist corporations.

A real, national, Canadian pharmacare plan would begin the production of pharmaceuticals in Canada under a national (federal/provincial cooperative) operation. It would create employment as well as growing independence in pharmaceutical policy.

As part of an under-the-table, pre-Free Trade Agreement deal -- remember -- Canada's first Toxic Right government, the government of Brian Mulroney, ridiculously and unnecessarily extended the patent time on pharmaceuticals (created by the huge, mostly U.S. multinationals) to twenty years. That "deal" will cost the Canadian medicare system billions of dollars.

Is an independent, Canadian pharmaceuticals manufacture possible? Look at Brazil. Fearing an AIDS epidemic and astonished at the cost of AIDS pharmaceuticals from the gouging (mostly U.S.) multinationals, the Brazilian government set up its own laboratories and production facilities. It discovered that it could produce AIDS pharmaceuticals for a small fraction of the market cost -- to no one's surprise.

But -- in addition -- it made two more huge discoveries. Using its own laboratories, Brazil could match many existing medicines for prices hundreds of times cheaper than sold by the monopoly pharmaceuticals market. Secondly, it found it could wholly invent pharmaceuticals for a dramatically cheaper expenditure than claimed by the pharmaceuticals monopoly. In short, the cost of bringing new drugs and new therapies (and doubtless, further on, new diagnostic and surgical machinery) to general use is consistently lied about by the private, monopoly, corporate, capitalist controllers.

That information was disclosed in a rare, CBC radio interview with a Brazilian government representative. Instead of becoming a major Canadian news item in press and media and a serious contribution to Canadian medicare debate, the story was killed with all haste and never appeared again.

A genuine Canadian pharmacare system, increasingly built upon Canadian invented and produced pharmaceuticals (and technical machinery) would dramatically lower Canadian healthcare costs. In addition, making an end-run around the giant pharmaceutical monopoly, Canadian production could bring profit to Canada from abroad even after slashing profit levels to a just measure.

Equally important, Canada could become a lead producer of profit-free pharmaceuticals for desperate populations on the globe which, presently, are left by the (mostly U.S.) multi-national pharmaceuticals monopoly to die by the millions in anguish and pain.

A Canadian pharmaceuticals manufactury is a simple, proven idea. Canada (even more than Brazil) has the wealth, the expertise, the eager young population to carry it out. Why, then, is it not being undertaken?

Because democratically elected leaders of most Canadian governments are "owned or controlled" by (a) the U.S. government and (b) by U.S. corporate, capitalist interests. Can we change the situation?

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Robin Mathews has just published two new books, George Grant's Betrayal of Canada and a book of poems entitled Think Freedom. They can be had by contacting him by e-mail at rmathews@sfu.ca.

Note: rmathews@sfu.ca