Tag Archives: politics

#BCPoli | Election 2024 Kindness as a Core Value in the Political Realm

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Recently, VanRamblings was afforded the opportunity to meet Dallas Brodie, the B.C. Conservative Party candidate in the riding of Vancouver-Quilchena.

Ms. Brodie, when she approached VanRamblings, told us that one of her campaign workers had made mention to her that we had recently written about her on our blog. Ms. Brodie followed up her initial comment to us by saying, “I read several articles on your blog. You’re a very good writer. Thank you for what you do!”

Now, did Ms. Brodie have to be kind, greet us with a warmth of character and a disarming and engaging complimentary élan?

Nope, she didn’t — particularly given that we’re an opinionated sort of fella, and chances are that Ms. Brodie read some VanRamblings commentary or other with which she was not necessarily in agreement (apparently, Ms. Brodie and VanRamblings, we are told, do not share a “political philosophy” .. alas).

Nonetheless, Dallas Brodie was invariably kind during the few minutes we spoke with one another — in an often too contentious world defined by an unwholesome divisiveness, VanRamblings came away from our encounter hopeful and heartened.

VanRamblings takes this opportunity to congratulate Dallas Brodie on her pending win in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding, where we feel quite assured that she will more than ably represent the concerns and interests of her grateful constituents.

The Role of Kindness as a Core Value in Politics

In an era where political discourse is often dominated by divisiveness, hostility, and polarization, the concept of kindness might seem quaint or naïve.

When we examine the foundational purpose of politics — the organization of society for the common good — kindness emerges as a practical and necessary value.

At its core, kindness represents empathy, respect, and a genuine concern for others. When woven into the fabric of political practices, kindness fosters collaboration, promotes inclusivity, and enables the pursuit of justice and equality.

Kindness must be viewed not as a weakness, but as an essential guiding principle in the development of government policy, and political conduct.


Premier David Eby, one of the kindest, most empathetic persons VanRamblings has ever known, a man  committed to social and economic justice, and a robust full employment economy.

In the 17 years we have enjoyed a political alliance with David Eby, we have always found him to be kind, not just to VanRamblings, but to everyone who comes into his orbit. David Eby is one of the kindest, most empathetic and entirely decent persons we have ever known, possessed of a beneficent social conscience, and as you may have noticed since he became Premier, a grassroots, democratic pragmatism that reflects the best interests of those he serves.

VanRamblings very much believes in the concept of “dancing with the one that brung ya.” As such, we’ll work diligently on David’s upcoming campaign.

Kindness as a Tool for Justice and Equity

Kindness in politics also has a powerful role in advancing justice and equity.

At its core, political decision-making is about determining how resources, rights, and opportunities are distributed within society. When kindness is embedded in this process, it ensures decisions are made with empathy for our most vulnerable populations.

In practical terms, policies that reflect kindness take into account the well-being of all citizens. The commitment to social and environmental justice is not an act of charity but an acknowledgment of our shared humanity.

The importance of kindness in addressing issues like climate change cannot be overstated. Climate change disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable communities.

A kind approach to environmental policy prioritizes the well-being of future generations and ensures that those who are least responsible for climate change are not left to bear its worst consequences. By fostering and promoting a sense of responsibility, political leaders who prioritize personal and social kindness (and equity) can guide the world toward more sustainable and just solutions.


John Coupar, a candidate for the B.C. Conservative Party, in the Vancouver-Little Mountain riding.

We had written on VanRamblings last week that we’ll be endorsing John Coupar — a past Vancouver Park Board Chairperson, and current Conservative Party of British Columbia candidate — in his bid to win the newly-created Vancouver-Little Mountain riding in the upcoming provincial election.

For maximum exposure, VanRamblings’ plan will be to publish our formal endorsement of Mr. Coupar early next month, a couple of weeks away from British Columbia’s October 19th provincial election date.

As we have written on social media, at least in part (and for us, an important part) of our endorsement of John Coupar arises from the fact Mr. Coupar, in the time we have known him, has always been one of the kindest, most open and most welcoming human beings we have ever encountered.

Which is not to say that John Coupar isn’t a take no guff, tough but fair-minded man of conscience, a man possessed of integrity and great character, a man who while not suffering fools gladly will stand up always for and behind what he believes is right and just, and serves the best interests of the community, and those he has been elected to serve and represent (which means, of course, all of us).

Kindness as a core value in politics is not just an idealistic aspiration; it is a pragmatic approach to creating a more just, equitable, and functional society.

By humanizing political dialogue, building trust, and promoting co-operation, kindness can repair the fractures in our political systems and enable leaders to address the pressing issues of our time with empathy and clarity.

Kindness in politics is a reflection of strength — the strength to listen, to compromise, and to fight for a society where all individuals are treated with dignity.

#CDNPoli | Canada’s New Dental Care Programme

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Don Davies, NDP member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway, since 2015.
Father of Canada’s new Dental Health Care Programme, and Dental Care for Canadians.

On Monday, December 11, 2023, the Canadian government announced a new Dental Care Programme that will cover the 9 million Canadians who do not, at present, have dental coverage.

“Far too many people have avoided getting the care that they need simply because it was too expensive, and that’s why the Dental Care Programme is essential to the health of Canadians,” federal Health Minister Mark Holland told the news conference held in early December 2023, introducing the new programme.

The Canadian Dental Care Programme when fully implemented will provide dental care to families whose annual net income is less than $90,000, and who don’t have access to private insurance. Full coverage, with no co-pay will be available to families whose annual net income falls below $70,000, while Canadian families with an income between $70,000 and $90,000 will pay a co-pay fee, as per the chart above.

Canada’s federal Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, set aside and has budgeted $13 billion over a five-year period, commencing in early 2024, to pay for Canada’s new Dental Care Programme, introduced in her most recent budget, on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, or $2.6 billion per year drawn from Canada’s current annual federal budget of $497 billion dollars, which is to say, 0.523139 per cent of our annual federal budget, just a tad over half a per cent to fully cover the 9 million Canadians across our land who currently suffer without any dental coverage.

The introduction of Canada’s new Dental Care Programme occurs as a consequence of the Supply and Confidence Agreement struck on March 22, 2022 between the governing Liberals and the opposition New Democrats, that since its implementation has affected legislation introduced by Justin Trudeau’s federal Liberal party, ranging from legislation that bans the use of replacement workers (scabs) in federally regulated workplaces during a strike or lockout; Bill C-58 preventing employers from hiring “scabs” to do the work of unionized employees on strike or locked out, to the implementation of a groundbreaking dental care programme that will cover 9 million Canadians currently without dental care coverage.

Negotiation for an inclusive Canada-wide dental care programme began shortly after the signing of the Supply and Confidence Agreement, the negotiation involving then federal Liberal Health Minister Jean Yves-Duclos, and the New Democratic Party’s well-respected Health Care critic, Vancouver-Kingsway MP, Don Davies.

For much of the past two and a half years, the negotiation for an expansive and inclusive, publicly-funded Canadian dental care plan was an uphill battle for NDP Health Care critic Don Davies, as Jean Yves-Duclos and Mr. Davies parried back and forth, the process of realizing the new programme an at times arduous, unresponsive and unforgiving one. All that changed for the better, though, in recent months.

Don Davies is, indeed, Canada’s dental health care warrior, and the father of publicly-funded dental health care in Canada, as Tommy Douglas was the father of Medicare. For Don Davies, patience and persistence has paid off for all Canadians.

Final negotiation for the introduction and implementation of Canada’s new Dental Care Plan began in earnest when Don Davies’ good friend, former Liberal House Leader Mark Holland was appointed as Canada’s Health Minister, in September.

Mark Holland and Don Davies are known on Parliament Hill as Batman and Robin, are very good friends, and on the same page when it comes to social legislation. When making the announcement of Canada’s new dental care programme last month, very much together on the same stage, at the same podium, you could see their obvious affection for one another, as well as pride and joy at a job well done.

Canada’s new Dental Care Plan will be phased in over the course of the next year.

Now: the details of the phase in strategy, how and how much dentists will be paid, and what the new Dental Care Plan will cover, as told to VanRamblings by Don Davies at a Town Hall conducted in his riding, in November, just prior to the federal government’s announcement of the implementation of one of the largest, most inclusive pan-Canadian social programmes legislated into being in the past 50 years.

Mr. Davies told those assembled at the Town Hall that in 2022 – 2023 an exhaustive search took place to identify an insurance corporation that could efficiently and effectively administer Canada’s proposed new Dental Care Programme.

In June 2023, Mr. Duclos and Mr. Davies made the decision to turn over the administration of Canada’s proposed new Dental Care Plan to Sun Life Canada, one of our country’s largest public companies, and at present one of the world’s largest multi-national life and health insurance, and asset management companies.

The following is the mandate of Sun Life, the task they have been charged with by the federal government that will lead to the realization of Canada’s new Dental Care Plan, covering the 9 million Canadians currently without dental insurance …

  • Sign up 90% of Canadian dentists to the country’s new Dental Care Plan. Dentists will be paid 85% of their province’s Dental Fee Schedule. Sun Life is to reimburse dentists within 48 hours of dentists submitting their claim to Sun Life Financial;
  • In December 2023, Sun Life began signing up all eligible Canadians aged 87 and older, with eligible seniors set to be contacted and signed up in March 2024. Dental coverage for the former group is set to begin as early as May 2024;
  • Effective June 2024, Sun Life will begin to sign up all eligible Canadian children, birth to 18 years of age, dental coverage for this cohort to begin this late summer;
  • All remaining eligible Canadians will be registered for Canada’s new Dental Care Programme effective this autumn, with implementation of coverage for this cohort to start at the beginning of, or early in 2025.

Thus far, the roll-out of Canada’s new Dental Care Programme moves on apace, with the sign-up of Canadian dentists moving ahead as projected, with the sign-up of Canadians also moving ahead as projected, the Dental Care Programme set to be fully realized by the end of 2024, covering the 9 million eligible Canadians.

Applications will open in phases, starting with seniors aged 87, which began in December 2023, followed by other age groups as per the chart above.

Coverage under the Canada’s new Dental Care Plan will commence as early as May 2024, with seniors being the first group eligible. The actual start date for accessing oral health care will depend on the specific group you belong to, the timing of your application, and when your enrolment is processed.

Now for the part you’ve been waiting for: what dental procedures will be covered ?

  • Oral surgery services, including tooth extractions;
  • Restorative services, including fillings for cavities, cracks, and broken teeth;
  • Crowns, but as Mr. Davies told VanRamblings last week, “only if medically necessary.” As an example, if you have a crown, but the gums beneath the crown become infected and in order to resolve the infection, the existing crown must be removed, and replaced, such would be considered “medically necessary”, and the expense involved in the dental work, taking an impression of the crown/tooth, and the manufacture and subsequent Crown placement in your mouth would be fully covered;
  • Repairing a chipped tooth, bonding the most likely repair route your dentist will likely recommend;
  • Root canals (endodontic therapy), the dental treatment for infections in tooth pulp, the innermost layer of your teeth;
  • A full and in-depth teeth cleaning, including scaling, sealants, a flouride treatment (if so desired) and polishing;
  • Dental X-rays, to evaluate your dental health;
  • General anesthesia, also known as deep sedation dentistry, if required;
  • Partial and complete dentures;
  • Orthodontic services, including braces and retainers, and much more;
  • Periodontal care, the branch of dentistry that focuses on the health of your gums and jawbone — the tissues that support your teeth. A periodontist is a gum specialist.

At present, the only dental procedures that will not be covered — unless they are considered medically necessary — are veneers and tooth implants, which are considered to be cosmetic dentistry, rather than a medically necessary procedure.

In somewhat related good news, federal Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, who last spring in Parliament, and in front of crowds at the Trump-like rallies he holds, was adamant that the first two “fiscally prudent” measures he would take upon becoming Prime Minister would be to cancel $1.3 billion in annual funding for the CBC, cutting as well the annual $2.6 billion funding for public dental care, has for the latter — according to Lisa Raitt, former Minister of Transport / Labour / Natural Resources during the 10-year term of the Stephen Harper government — in a recent discussion on CTV News Channel’s Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, told Ms. Kapelos that Mr. Poilievre, recognizing that by the time the next federal election rolls around in the fall of 2025 that Canada’s new Dental Care Programme will be fully implemented and popular with Canadians across the land, and because becoming Prime Minister is of paramount importance to him, has reversed himself on his commitment to cancel the Dental Care Programme …

” … as Erin O’Toole did in 2019, when initially he told Canadians that a key plank in his platform would be to cancel the wildly popular Canada Child Benefit, reversing himself on the matter before the 2021 federal election, lest it become an issue that would cause his defeat. Canada’s new Dental Care Plan is here to stay,” Ms. Raitt told Ms. Kapelos, and her fellow panel members.

Once enrolled, Canadian residents who qualify will be sent a welcome package by Sun Life, with a member card and a starting date for when their oral health care services will be covered. Those Canadians who are eligible for enrolment in the new Dental Care Plan will be able to start experiencing oral health-care as early as May 2024, as above, commencing with coverage for Canada’s seniors population.

#GeoPolitics | Autocratic Regimes | A Shift in Power

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The rise of right wing populism in the United States brought on by the election of Donald Trump

We live in a troubled and troubling world, with the ravages of climate emergency a danger to us all — most particularly, British Columbians in 2021, living through a heat dome crisis in June, consuming province-wide wildfires this past summer, and now, flooding, economic devastation, and the destruction of roads and bridges that serve to exacerbate an execrable supply chain crisis.

And, then, there’s the politics of the western world, where authoritarianism and autocratic regimes across the globe have become even more brazen in their repression. Many democratic governments are backsliding and are adopting authoritarian tactics by restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The political flaws and social fault lines revealed by the pandemic will drive more people towards populist and authoritarian leaders that seldom deliver durable solutions for the concerns of citizens”, says International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora. “If there is one key message in the Global State of Democracy Report 2021 — Building Resilience in a Pandemic Era”, published by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an intergovernmental organization based in Stockholm, “it is that now is the time for democracies to be bold, to innovate and revitalize themselves. The Global State of Democracy report is not a wakeup call, it’s an alarm bell. Authoritarianism advances in every corner of the earth. Universal values — the pillars of civilization that protect the most vulnerable — are under threat.”

While many democracies have proved resilient during the pandemic, by expanding democratic innovations and adapting their practices and institutions in record time, in order to preserve our democracies, as Casas-Zamora states, bold action was required by our leaders to innovate and revitalize themselves.

Cuba’s pro democracy protesters take to the streets, to fight rising poverty and high COVID-19 numbers

One of the key findings of the report is the strength of civic activism all over the world. Pro-democracy movements have braved repression in places such as Belarus, Cuba, Eswatini, Myanmar, and Sudan, and global social movements for tackling climate change and fighting racial injustice have thrived.

More than 80 countries have experienced protests and civic action of different kinds during the pandemic despite often harsh government restrictions.

Asia and the Pacific has suffered a wave of growing authoritarianism as crises of various kinds have affected Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Myanmar. Democratic erosion is also widespread, including in India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka with many of them suffering from rising ethno-nationalism and the militarization of politics. China’s influence, coupled with its own deepening autocratization, also puts the legitimacy of the democratic model at risk.

In Africa and the Middle East, while elections remain the norm, the report states the democratic quality of these elections is on the decline and attempts to evade or remove presidential term limits present a risk to democracy.  2021 has seen four military coups: in Chad, Guinea-Conakry, Mali and Sudan.

The Middle East’s tainted track record on protecting civil liberties has been even further strained by the pandemic, with many elections held with the sole aim of keeping existing regimes in power, such as in Algeria, Egypt and Syria.

Moscow gripped with the largest anti-government demonstrations since the winter of 2011-12

The rise of autocracy and of right wing populism, its western democratic cousin, gives rise to understandable concern that liberal political values and the rule of law are heading towards terminal decline.

However, neither autocratic states such as China and Russia nor right wing populist leaders like Donald Trump in the U.S., Italy’s Matteo Salvini and right wing populist leaders in other western countries have had everything go their way. Their mixed fortunes suggest that it is premature to write off the prospects for global governance, even though the rules-based order constructed after 1945 is decomposing and will never return in its old form.

The Chinese and Russian states possess immense resources of violence and intimidation that allow them to suppress dissent with ease. From Tiananmen Square in 1989 on, China has proved that it has an unyielding state of mind, one that augurs poorly for Hong Kong protesters.

However, there is less tolerance for politically related violence in European societies, as demonstrated by the public backlash in Slovakia against the murder of Ján Kuciak, an investigative journalist, and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová.

Should right wing populism fail to make deeper inroads in western political systems, owing to its unrealistic promises and policy confusion when in power, the deliberate disruption of the post-1945 global order would arguably slow down. The growing internal challenges of autocratic systems in countries such as Russia and Turkey might reinforce this trend.

However, the most important long-term trends in international relations over the past 30 years have been the rise of China and the accelerating shift of economic power from the west to the Asia-Pacific region.

That shift ensures that the Washington-designed post-1945 order, built mainly for the benefit of the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and their allies, in the years to come will give way to a more dispersed form of global governance.

For the west, the cold reality is not that autocracy will triumph and democracy will fail, but rather that the 500-year-long era of western global supremacy is slowly and inexorably coming to an end.

Decision 2021 | Day 25 | The 21st Century Belongs to the Conservatives?

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For 9 long years, Canadian politics underwent a tectonic shift that for the longest period of time since Confederation seemingly buried the liberal elites of yesteryear, during the era of Stephen Harper’s reign as Canada’s Prime Minister.

The thesis propounded by conservative Globe and Mail columnist, John Ibbitson, and pollster Darrell Bricker, Global CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs Research, is that  Canada is undergoing a fundamental shift (the eponymous “Big Shift”) that in the 21st century will result in a reformation of Canadian politics, governance, economy and values. The authors argue in their book that the Conservative Party of Canada is the political force best poised to take advantage of this changing landscape, and over the years and in the coming decades will be transformed into what was once the purview of the Liberal Party: the natural governing party of Canada.

Bricker and Ibbitson argue that one of the world’s most consensual countries is becoming polarized, exhibiting stark differences between East and West, cities and suburbs, Canadian born citizens and immigrants. The “winners” — in both politics and business — will be those who can capitalize on these momentous changes.

For almost its entire history, Canada has been run by the political, media and business elites of Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal. For nine long, arduous years, though, these groups lost their power — without most of them realizing their power was on the wane. The Laurentian Consensus, the term John Ibbitson has coined for the dusty liberal elite, had been replaced by a new and powerful coalition based in the West and supported by immigrant voters in Ontario. How did this happen?

So far in the 21st century, though, the Conservatives have governed for only 9 of 21 years. Despite their dispiriting election losses in the 2015 and 2019 federal elections, the Conservative Party has nonetheless continued to remain strong in northern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, in the rural regions of Ontario, and has even shown strength in Québec — but not in the Maritimes.

In his review in The Globe and Mail of John Ibbitson and Darrell Bricker’s book, The Big Shift, journalist and academic Christopher Dornan writes …

“The Big Shift, as its title suggests, is one of those books that purports to divine a single, telling fact to explain Canada. If that fact echoes Jacques Parizeau’s infamous 1995 comment about “money and the ethnic vote,” it is not, as Bricker and Ibbitson advance it, a form of bigotry, but a species of determinism: The political values, and therefore voting tendencies, of new arrivals and first-generation Canadians are contingent on their race and region of origin.

Further, this “Big Shift in power to the West and to suburban immigrants” is not only permanent but “will make Canada inexorably a more conservative place.” Resistance is futile. Bad news for progressives, whether they manage to unite or not. They’re on the wrong side of a fundamental and irreversible demographic shift.”

While both of the book’s authors take great pains to stress that they’ve merely set out to document a “seismic shift” in the demographics of Canada, and what it portends for the political, social and economic future of our nation, for most who would read the book and interpret its internal thesis, from the book’s outset through til its end, it would be difficult to ignore the sense of triumphalism evident throughout Ibbitson and Bricker’s polemical treatise, as if somehow the shift to the “new” — and increasingly right wing — Conservative Party is inalterably inevitable.

“It’s one thing for the Conservative Party to chafe and protest  when in opposition,” writes Dornan. “But, if Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s style of government — which might best be described as “undertaken in a spirit of spite” — offers an example of what Canadians might expect from a Conservative government, it is entirely likely that a goodly number of our fellow citizens would find this approach to governance to be untenable, particularly in a country populated by families who came here to escape entrenched antagonisms. If that ever changes, then the Canada we all love — left and right, newcomer or born-and-bred — will be truly at risk.”

When Canadians go to the advance polls to cast a ballot this week, or to their polling station on Election Day, Monday, September 20th, Canadians must vote not just for the Prime Minister and the government of their choice, but for the future of Canada — our most cherished home — and the uniquely Canadian values of fairness, respect, compassion, equality, inclusion, diversity, safety, peace, and for being there for one another, as collectively we seek to create a more sustainably just Canada for everyone. As in every election, there is in 2021 a great deal on the line.