Funding Too Many Cash Cows...

Did You VOTE FOR CHANGE And McGoonty Made Sure...

...that this was in the medicine cabinet of everyone who voted for change But with the savings generated by the HST the rest of us will have to go to Walmart for the large, economy size:

Liberal or Tory, Ontario's screwed

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, QMI Agency

Every so often a political controversy reveals all politicians are pretty much alike.

Suspicious Liberal links: Blizzard

The Working Families Coalition claims it’s not political, but that doesn’t square with reality

By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD, Toronto Sun

Do Hospital Pharmacies And Doctors Have Similar Relationship?

Pharmacies’ pain will be consumers’ gain

Jeffrey Simpson

Is government crackdown on pharmacy funding justified?

April 13, 2010

MARGARET SCOTT/NEWSART

 

YES
Susan Eng
Vice-president, advocacy,  CARP
You could be paying much less for generic drugs if the provincial governments are successful in getting rid of the rebates the drug companies pay drug stores to stock their products. However, the drugstore chains are putting up a fight and there's no telling where this will end, but you should be alert to pressure tactics at the drug counter. READ MORE

NO
Rita Winn
Community pharmacist, Oshawa
Ontario's pharmacists are proud of the role we play in front-line patient care.
From seniors and patients with chronic illness to moms and dads with small children at home – and everyone in between – local pharmacists are often the first entry point into the health-care system. READ MORE

I Voted YES But...

...the initiative should be revised to include condoms be worn by politicians and bureaucrats who are constantly screwing the people making the people susceptible to lower living standards and poverty.

Do you think contraception should be included in the Harper government’s G8 initiative to reduce the death rates of mothers and babies in poor countries?

77% 60 votes

Yes

23% 18 votes

No


 Birth control won't be in G8 plan to protect mothers, Tories say
The Conservative government has offered an explanation for why it will exclude contraception from its initiative to improve the health of mothers in poor countries: Birth control doesn't fit with saving lives.

If YOU Are Not Concerned YOU Should Be

Canada hardly a leader in the world of wireless TheStar.com - sciencetech - Canada hardly a leader in the world of wireless

August 24, 2009

Michael Geist

Where does Canada stand with respect to the cost of wireless services? That question recently generated a spirited debate when the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development released new figures that ranked it as the third most expensive developed country.

Critics pounced on the report, calling the results ridiculous and pointing to perceived flaws in the methodology.

Given that consumers have a hard time making sense of the different plans, options and hidden fees offered by Canada's big three wireless providers (Rogers, Bell and Telus), it should come as little surprise that comparison of wireless services across dozens of countries is exceptionally difficult. Some countries charge consumers for both incoming and outgoing calls, while many others do not.

Moreover, hidden charges such as Canada's system access fee – which can add as much as 25 per cent to a monthly bill – are often excluded from cost calculations.

While the debate will continue to rage, few currently hold Canada up as a model of wireless leadership. If not pricing, what should policy-makers and politicians be focusing on? Four main issues come to mind.

The first is competition, particularly among GSM providers.

While this will change later this year, for the moment Rogers is the only GSM provider in the country. Since GSM has emerged as the dominant global wireless technology, this has had big consequences for consumer choice and marketplace competition. Most new devices, such as the popular Apple iPhone, are available only for GSM providers, meaning that Rogers has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the hottest devices.

Although the government has been reluctant to publicly acknowledge its competition concerns, recent policies suggest that it would like to see a more competitive environment.

The clearest indication came during the 2008 spectrum auction, in which it reserved some spectrum exclusively for new entrants over the objections of the incumbents.

There is another spectrum auction on the horizon that holds the possibility of opening the door to further competitors, particularly if Industry Minister Tony Clement is willing to revisit foreign ownership restrictions.

The auction also provides an opportunity to address the second issue – wireless net neutrality.

The current "walled garden" approach adopted by Canadian carriers in which they frequently control the applications that run on their networks has already attracted the attention of the CRTC. It has ruled that new regulatory requirements are needed to counter the resulting competition concerns.

Transparency in pricing should also be addressed. Canadian carriers continue to levy system access fees as a separate charge, despite the fact that they are nothing more than an additional cost to consumers. Moreover, carriers often bury significant usage restrictions in the fine print, leaving consumers without a true sense of the cost of their mobile phones. Clear guidelines on disclosures would enable consumers to better choose among providers.

Fourth, the length of consumer contracts further stymies competition. Canadian wireless carriers attempt to lock consumers into contracts for far longer than virtually any other developed country, with three-year contracts considered the norm. Several years ago Canada instituted wireless number portability that allows consumers to keep their numbers when switching providers. While designed to fuel greater competition, the policy has largely failed, owing to the combined effect of a single GSM provider (meaning consumers often lose their device when switching providers) and long-term contracts.

Debates about wireless pricing may be addressing the right concern with the wrong question. Instead, Canadians should be focused on competition, walled gardens, pricing transparency and a cap on contractual terms.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.