Throne speech a good start on crucial pre-pandemic commitments
What determines a government’s actions? As the late British prime minister Harold Macmillan is famously quoted, “Events, dear boy, events.”
This year, governments around the world have faced one of the biggest possible “events” with the COVID-19 pandemic. It has upended political, economic and social plans, not to mention the sickness and death it has caused.
The Governor General delivered the speech from the throne recently, promoted as Canada’s road map to pandemic recovery. It forges positive steps forward on crucial pre-pandemic health commitments from the federal government. But there are also some crucial missing obligations on the survival of charities and on food and vaping regulations.
National universal pharmacare was announced in the throne speech, and that’s important. Now, concrete action and collaboration between the federal and provincial governments is needed to move pharmacare forward.
Prior to COVID-19, 7.5 million people in Canada had no or inadequate prescription drug coverage. Women in particular were often in more precarious work situations, including part-time positions that do not offer drug plans.
Between March and April of this year, three million jobs were lost in this country during the pandemic, affecting many who had coverage through an employer. In May, the unemployment rate hit a record-high of 13.7 per cent. This means there are even more Canadians today who are no longer covered for prescription drugs under employment-related private health benefits.
In a post-pandemic Canada, we must ensure all Canadians have access to the medicines they need. If designed and implemented properly, a universal pharmacare program would drive down costs, provide better value for money, and reduce the burden on the health system.
Other important health initiatives the government had started but not completed include legislation to restrict the marketing of food and beverages to children. Senate legislation addressing this issue was passed by the House of Commons in 2018, but did not pass the Senate before last year’s election was called.
Another initiative involves changes to food packaging rules so that clear and simple nutritional information is conveyed on the front of packages. These regulatory changes have been in the works for the past several years, but should be a priority.
A third vital measure is further action to protect young people from vaping. New measures announced by Health Canada in July to further restrict ecigarette marketing and promotion are welcome, but more is needed, including a comprehensive ban on flavours and strict limits on nicotine content.
Finally, the government should establish new measures to support Canada’s charitable sector.
Charities, including those providing important health-related services to Canadians, have faced significant fundraising challenges during the pandemic. Critical in-person community fundraising events that would have started in the spring were cancelled, resulting in an immediate 50 per cent reduction in revenue on average across the sector.
At Heart and Stroke, there have been impacts across our organization and to all our programs. Difficult decisions have included laying off about 50 per cent of our workforce and reducing research.
Implementing vital health policies and support for the charitable sector will help Canada manage current challenges and will make us stronger for other inevitable “events” in our future.