Why does Health Canada take so long to approve new drugs and procedures

Health Canada is always very slow to approve new drugs and procedures, but in this case they have been almost criminally dilatory. 

Canada has just approved the OraQuick HIV self-test, a ground-breaking at-home oral HIV test, that doesn't require any blood and delivers results in as little as 20 minutes. It was approved in the United States way back in 2012, recommended by the World Health Organization in 2016, and is currently in use in 60 countries. It doesn't take the place of a physician-administered boood test, but it is an easy and non-invasive initial assessment that might encourage a person to seek more official help on a timely basis.

So, why is Canada so late to the game? After all, HIV is still rife in Canada, especially among the Indigenous populations of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, even if it doesn't make headlines any more.

According to a prominent urban health scientist, suppliers needed proof that there was a market for the test in Canada (why should that be a consideration for technical approval?), and Health Canada needed assurance that it "reached its standards" (60 other countries seem happy that it is safe and efficacious). Neither of these excuses seem convincing or compelling reasons for 14 years of delay and procrastination for a valuable andncost-effective health procedure.

Trump has a hissy fit about new Canada-US bridge

Canada is the target of yet another late-night Trump outburst and, as usual, he is woefully poorly-informed and mistaken. 

This time he is taking issue with the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan. The US$4.7 billion (C$6.4 billion) bridge, that Trump himself fast-tracked, is now very close to completion and opening. The Windsor-Detroit crossing is the busiest international border between the two countries, and the new bridge will ease border snarl-ups, particularly as the ageing Ambassador Bridge is no longer up to dealing with such a volume of traffic.

According to Trump, though, "they own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no US content".  He further whined, "What does the United States of America get - absolutely NOTHING!" Well, nothing except improved trade infrastructure, for free! And finally, "I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them ... with all that we have given them we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset."

Prime Minister Carney had to phone the old man again to explain that, actually, Canada paid for the bridge in full, even though it is publicly owned jointly by both Canada and the state of Michigan under the Canada-Michigan Crossing Agreement. Canada is allowed under the agreement to use tolls collected from the bridge to offset its costs and, once the costs are fully recouped, subsequent toll revenue will be shared between Canada and Michigan. It has all been agreed amicably between the two parties; Trump has no need to involve himself, as Democratic Michigan lawmakers agreed. Furthermore, Carney patiently explained to Trump, the bridge was built by Canadian and American workers using Canadian and American steel.

And, anyway, what has the United States "given" Canada (apart from a headache)? The guy lives in his own fabricated little world, doesn't he? His ignorance is mind-boggling.

Bu could Trump actually stop the bridge from opening? Probably, either by revoking the previously-granted presidential permit, or by claiming a national security emergency. US presidential powers are ridiculously broad and deep, as we have seen, although it would put him in direct conflict with a US state, which would lead to some stiff legal challenges. Michigan officials have indicated that they will fight any attempts to stop the bridge opening, but legal challenges have never stopped Trump before....

UPDATE

It's no coincidence that, just mere hours before Trump's objectionable and unhinged post, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met with American billionaire (and major Trump donor) Matthew Moroun, whose family has for decades owned and operated the old Ambassador Bridge crossing, the ageing facility that will be largely replaced by the beautiful new Gordie Howe Bridge.

Gordie Howe Bridge between Windsor and Detroit

Lutnick, who as we know is thick as thieves with Trump, then spoke with his boss by phone, and clearly passed on whatever incorrect story he was given by Moroun. The rest is sordid and embarrasssing history. It turns out that the Moroun family have made several attempts to get the Gordie Howe Bridge construction stopped over the last few years. This is just the latest. 

The fact that Lutnick and Trump will sink to these depths of corruption should surprise no-one. Because, make no mistake, corruption it most surely is.

Carney explains why he still considers himself a climate change leader

Apparently, Mark Carney still sees himself and Canada as a leader on climate change.

In an interview just a couple of days ago, one reporter put it to him starkly: "Along with cutting the EV mandate, you've cut the consumer carbon tax, weakened a commitment to the oil and gas emissions cap, you're exempting Alberta from clean-up energy regulations, and abandoned a promise to plant two billion trees. Do you still consider yourself a leader in climate change?" 

Yow, pretty damning stuff! How did Carney respond? "Absolutely, I consider Canada a leader on climate change, and I'm focussing on climate change results and solutions". Wow. I can feel the cognitive dissonance creeping over me as I write.

To his credit, Carney went on to enumerate what he sees as his justification for his claims, namely: tax relief and support for the entire EV production chain, incentives for consumers to adopt EVs, tightening (two-fold, he says) Canada's greenhouse gas emissions while giving the auto industry flexibility as to how they achieve that, and a plan (to be announced) to double the capacity of Canada's clean electricity system. He also said that the liquid natural gas (LNG) coming out of British Columbia, which he has been encouraging and facilitating, is among the cleanest LNG in the world (for what that's worth), and it is also being twinned with carbon capture and storage technology (albeit largely unproven and unbuilt).

So, credit where credit is due, the guy talks a good game. But let's not be fooled, what he is proposing and talking up is really not as effective or direct a solution to climate change as the various policies he has just abandoned (and even those were not sufficient). I have a lot of respect for Mr. Carney, and I believe he is doing a reasonably good job in most respects under very trying circumstances. But on the environment and climate change, he is absolutely guilty of pulling the wool over our eyes. (If you want to see what you actually need to do to make EVs a mainstream option, look no further than Norway.)

Southern America has turned into an Orwellian nightmare

Many Trump supporters, particularly in southern states like Texas, are starting to feel the effects of the constant ICE immigration raids. 

If you ask them, they say they still fully support Trump and his immigration and border security policies. But they are starting to understand just how reliant the southern US economy, especially the construction trade, is on immigrant labour. So, now they are starting to complain about the paramilitary-style ICE raids, which has half of the country in state of chronic low-level fear interspersed with acute panic attacks.

And guess what? It's bad for business. People who still call themselves Trump supporters are monitoring, and contributing to, online group chats which share ICE agent sightings, hurriedly hiding their workers away lest they be snatched and deported. They are erecting razor wire fences around their properties to keep the agents out. And yet they will still tell you they support Trump and his border control agenda. Somehow they have disconnected Trump and the ICE raids, and they insist that they know that Trump loves his country, much more than Biden ever did, yada yada.

What kind of a dystopian world are they living in? George Orwell would have had a ball with all this.

Why can't we make beer cans in Canada?

I remember early last year when Trump's tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel were brought in, and there were interviews on TV with Canadian brewers lamenting that the beer cans they imported from the USA were suddenly so much more expensive.

It made no sense to me. For one thing, if Canada produces most of America's aluminum, why do we even buy beer cans from America? Why don't we make our own beer cans with our own aluminum?

I never did find out why, and I've not really thought about it since, until I came across an article today talking about this very issue. It's been nearly a year, and Canadian brewers are still complaining about the cost of American beer cans. And we are still not producing our own beer cans with our own aluminum.

Even now, it's "nearly impossible" to find certain kinds of beer can made here in Canada. "There's actually no Canadian source for a truly Canadian-made tall can". Canada exports aluminum to the US, where it gets manufactured into a "can sheet", and then exported back to Canada to be made into actual cans. Ridiculous! But why?

The reason, it seems, comes down to economic efficiency. It makes sense to smelt the aluminum in Canada, particularly in Quebec, where most of our aluminum is mined, because Quebec has very cheap hydro electricity, and smelting is a very electricity-dependent activity. However, it makes more economic sense for the US to produce the can sheets because America has a much larger market it can sell can sheet to. It apparently does not make economic sense for a Canadian company to produce can sheet.

Given the effects of the Trump tariffs, though, it surprises me that it is STILL makes no economic sense. You'd think there would now be an economic case for a Canadian company to produce cans locally, say in Quebec. The demand from breweries across the whole country would surely be sufficient to enable huge economies of scale (we drink a lot of beer!) Yes, there are transportation costs to factor in, and this is one big country. But it just surprises me that no-one has even tried.

Yes, we do need (more) immigrants

Interesting. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem (which always sounds like a pseudonym to me), at a speech he gave yesterday at the Empire Club of Canada, has specifically identified Canada's reduced immigration quotas as a source of disruption to the economy over the next few years.

Macklem said that economic growth and the labour market in Canada is being held back by several factors including US tariffs, artificial intelligence and declining fertility, but also alowed immigration. He explains, "that means fewer new consumers and workers in the economy, which lowers out economic potential". 

This is not the first time Macklem has referred to immigration as an economic boon. Back in October 2024, when Justin Trudeau was first starting to cut back immigration targets after sustained criticism from Conservatives, housing groups, etc, Macklem warned that immigration curbs would substantially impact the central bank's growth forecasts.

It's refreshing to see such an establishment figure telling it like it is on immigration, as Matk Carney follows in Trudeau's footsteps and continues to cut back on immigration targets (probably too much).

Another immigration issue hanging over Mr. Carney is the large number of undocumented immmigrants in Canada, estimated at anywhere from 200,000 and 2 million(!) He could follow the lead of Donald Trump in America and deport them by the hundreds of thousands. Or he could follow the lead of Spain, which has once again given permanent residence and eventual citizenship to half a million undocumented immigrants. Several other European countries have also gone this route, as has Canada at various times in the past.

So, treat them as a theat, or treat them as a potential aasset? Now would be a good time not to follow Trump.

Alberta demands more say on judicial appointments

Danielle Smith is on the warpath again. Yawn.

This time she is demanding - demanding, I say - that the province of Alberta have more say over the appointment of Alberta judges. The appointment of federal judges in Alberta, as in any province, is the constitutional responsibility of the federal government. She also wants a relaxation of the requirement for bilingualism in the higher echelons of the legal profession because, well, Albertans don't do bilingualism.

It's like she and her administration stay up at night thinking up new ways to nettle the federal government, the prettier the issue the better. It seems that her voting constituency, which contains a fair few Alberta separatists, expect it of her. But, man, is the rest of the country fed up with it!

So, this is a woman who has often complained about the juduciary not doing what she wants, indeed having the temerity to have different political opinions and worldviews to her. This is a woman who has openly stated that she would like to be able to politically vet judges, America-style (and look how well that system is going...) Alberta judges felt compelled to make a public complaint after that, calling on Smith to respect the independence of the judicial appointment system.

And she expects Ottawa to hand over more control? She's even gone full Trump, threatening to withold Alberta's funding of.the judicial system is she doesn't get what she wants. She may just as well have said she will impose tariffs if she doesn't get her way. This is Smith's idea of negotiation, collaboration. That kind of says it all. And anyway, it isntge federal government that pays the salaries of federal judges, so Smith is talking here about witholding funds for admin help, furniture, cellphones, etc, so it's a very small gun she is holding to Carney's head, although just her tone alone is nevertheless enough to put the government's back up. She probably didn't think the whole thing through.

Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser has, quite rightly, dismissed Smith's "demands" out of hand, saying, "I'm planning to maintain the process that we have in place, that has independence, that has rigour, that has led to stellar candidates being appointed, including as recently in Alberta". A little mor tongue in cheek, Fraser says, "We welcome the feedback from representatives of the Alberta government ... it's been very helpful".

Is Mark Carney in the Epstein Files?

Well, here's a question I never thought to ask: is Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney mentioned in the Epstein files? It's not an unreasonable question - the files are a virtual who's who of men of influence, although not all of the mentions are necessarily incriminating.

The CBC has done the hard work for me. It turns out that Carney is mentioned quite a few times - particularly during the time of his tenure as Governor of the Bank of England - basically because he was an important figure in the financial world. The mentions are mainly references to events or articles that happen to involve Carney. However, none of the documents show any direct communications between Carney and Epstein, and certainly nothing salacious is even hinted at. 

Yes, there are fake photos circulating on the internet showing Carney on Epstein's private island - of course there are! - but they are just that, proven AI fakes. There are one or two real photos of Carney at an event in 2013 with Epstein's side-kick and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell - apparently his wife's sister went to school with Maxwell, and Maxwell was ubiquitous in the British social scene of the time - but Carney never had any dealings with her.

So, not a big surprise. Carney seems way too straight and buttoned up to be involved in any of Epstein's or Maxwell's schemes. Worth checking, though.