Tag Archives: politics

#VanPoli | 2026 Vancouver Mayoral Candidates | We Take No Prisoners | Part 2

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Stephanie Allen. Along with Kareem Allam, by far our favourite candidate for Mayor of Vancouver, a boots on the ground visionary, a fiscally responsible, well schooled, non-pedantic knows her stuff politico, who possesses much — perhaps unparalleled — insight into how government functions (although we would say she may have met her match in Kareem Allam), and after years of working in British Columbia’s provincial government knows how to implement true change for the better — the real deal Zohran Mamdami running in the current 2026 Vancouver civic election — COPE scored a major coup in landing the absolutely tremendous Stephanie Allen as the municipal party’s standard bearer in the 2026 Vancouver civic election (thank you Shawn Vulliez, COPE’s absolutely brilliant campaign manager, for convincing Ms. Allen to run for the office of Vancouver Mayor)!

Now, you may know Stephanie Allen from her critically important role as Vice-President of BC Housing, or — following the untimely death (from cancer) of VanRamblings’ friend and neighbour, Brenda Prosken, who we first met and worked with at Vancouver City Hall in her role as General Manager of Community Services — when Stephanie Allen stepped up to the plate in 2020 / 2021 to find housing and homes for those who were resident in the Strathcona Park encampment (following on Brenda’s work on the decampment of Oppenheimer Park, when she located housing for all of the encampment’s residents), but there’s more …


A re-imagining of Hogan’s Alley, Vancouver’s first enclave for some of the Vancouver’s early Black Canadian immigrants, located within a T-shaped intersection at what is now the easternmost end of the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts — immediately south of Chinatown | Stephanie ALLEN.

Hogan’s Alley, the early 1900s community in and around the Strathcona neighbourhood — framed today by Main Street to the west, Union Street to the north, Jackson Avenue to the east, and Prior Street to the south — where it eventually became the cultural hub of the community, the former neighbourhood known for being home to Nora Hendrix, the grandmother of rock legend Jimi Hendrix, and a cook at Vie’s Chicken and Steak House, a Hogan’s Alley’s culinary institution.

The latter half of the 1960s marked the neighbourhood’s demise, when city blocks of homes and businesses that formed Hogan’s Alley were demolished for the replacement Georgia Viaduct, which itself is set to be demolished later this decade.

And, gosh, who do you think it was who developed the concept of a renewed Hogan’s Alley? Could it be Stephanie ALLEN, COPE’s absolutely tremendous candidate for Mayor of the City of Vancouver? Yep, yep, we believe that is the case.

Time to introduce you to another high profile candidate for Mayor of Our City

William Azaroff. Running for Mayor of Vancouver under the banner of OneCity Vancouver, VanRamblings first met Mr. Azaroff in June 2019 soon after he was appointed CEO of the Brightside Community Homes Foundation (a prominent non-profit in Metro Vancouver), where he leads a team that manages 26 buildings encompassing over 1,100 affordable homes for seniors, families, and persons with disabilities across the Metro Vancouver region.

Recently, the Vancouver & District Labour Council (VDLC) endorsed Mr. Azaroff for Mayor in this year’s Vancouver municipal election, announcing its endorsement on May 20, 2026, while simultaneously urging the Green Party and COPE to reconsider their Mayoral campaigns to consolidate the so-called “progressive” vote.

That night, COPE’s very able (and, dare we say, brilliant) campaign manager, Shawn Vulliez posted a brief note to VanRamblings in which he averred, “There’s a secret meeting going on tonight where, I’m told, One City Vancouver and the VDLC are going to jettison the co-operative agreement reached by OneCity, the Greens and COPE that would have us work together, as we have in the past, where the VDLC is going to formally endorse OneCity.”

As British statesman Benjamin Disraeli observed “in politics, as in love, there is no honour,” pointing to a world where strategy, leverage, and party alignment often take precedence over unbending morality.

As renowned philosopher Hannah Arendt once observed …

“In matters of the heart, the adage “all is fair in love” suggests that strong passions can lead to irrational choices, which I would argue in politics is fundamentally incompatible with logical, rational reasoning. Love requires vulnerability and deep personal investment, while politics often demands strict detachment or ideological pragmatism. When the two collide, devotion to political figures or ideologies can sometimes overshadow the love and respect shared between partners, be they political or lovers.”

VanRamblings is here to say two things …

  • We absolutely and definitively will not support nor endorse William Azaroff as Vancouver’s next Mayor. We believe Mr. Azaroff is Ken Sim redux in casual wear, a bully, a sort of ne’er-do-well, and although better informed and more accomplished than Mayor Ken Sim, in practice is a kind of despicable, self-serving politico, a non-collaborative fellow, with the potential to be an intimidating and coercive oppressor who will bring to Vancouver City Council the same sort of dysfunction and disunity that has proved to be Ken Sim’s stock-in-trade. Read more on our rationale below.
  • At reading the paragraph above, we believe VDLC President Stephen (pronounced “Stefan”) von Zychowski — who we like and respect — will be apoplectic. Soon, we will ask for Mr. von Zychowski’s permission to reprint the statement he has made on social media as to the rationale of the VDLC in choosing to support William Azaroff as our next Mayor, as well as his OneCity Vancouver civic party. Fair’s fair, after all.

On February 12th, Mr. Azaroff defeated First United Church Executive Director Amanda Burrows in OneCity Vancouver’s Mayoral nomination race, securing 1329 votes or 60% of the vote total, with Ms. Burrows coming in second with 929 votes, or 40% of the vote. Nomination battles are always a numbers game.

Upon winning the OneCity Mayoral nomination, did Mr. Azaroff reach out to Ms. Burrows and say …

“You ran a good race, a great race. I learned so much from you as we both sought to secure the OneCity Vancouver Mayoral nomination. I think the success of OneCity in this year’s election demands candidates of quality, discernment and accomplishment, all of which you embody. I believe going forward it is critical you remain on the OneCity team, and that you secure a nomination for Council, which I will heartily endorse. Working together, there is so much good that we can accomplish.”

Did William Azaroff reach out to Amanda Burrows, congratulate her on a well-run campaign, and ask her to join his OneCity Vancouver team to seek a Council nomination, which he would heartily support? Nope, gentleman that he isn’t, he did not approach her. Instead, he left Ms. Burrows to twist in the wind.

Note. Amanda Burrows did not seek a OneCity Council nomination.

From the outset there was very little enthusiasm within COPE (the Coalition of Progressive Electors), for the Mayoral candidacy of William Azaroff, should he secure the OneCity Mayoral nomination.

Even so, in signing a OneCity Vancouver / Greens / COPE co-operative agreement COPE — which was represented by campaign manager, Shawn Vulliez — at the behest of the VDLC, COPE made a commitment to consider backing various of the “progressive” non-COPE candidates should these candidates “pull ahead.”

COPE’s Executive did not want to risk the potentiality of Stephanie Allen’s Mayoral bid should all go well — as was heartily hoped would occur —  given the possibility Ms. Allen might emerge as the successful consensus “progressive” Mayoral choice, thereby garnering support from OneCity, the Greens and the VDLC.

There was to be no ill will expressed, nor acted upon, nor any misunderstanding(s).

COPE conducted itself in an honourable matter.


Derrick O’Keefe, COPE School Board candidate (l), and his activist partner, Andrea Pinochet-Escudero

Why then was there opprobrium among some in COPE for an Azaroff candidacy?

If one reads various social media accounts, and speaks directly with a broad cross-section of COPE’s membership, one learns that many members of COPE have experienced mulish interactions with Mr. Azaroff, such that  he is considered by many COPE members to be the Evictor in Chief in the affordable housing sector, as he displaces vulnerable tenants from their homes.

VanRamblings has covered municipal, provincial and federal elections for 60 years.

In all that time, there is no Mayoral candidate or party leader — federally, provincially or municipally — who did not put his or her imprint on the party they lead, deciding who would constitute members of her or his team going into an election.

For instance, when Kirk LaPointe became the Mayoral nominee for the NPA in 2014, he dismissed all of the vetted candidates for Council, Park Board and School Board — this at the end of a long, arduous and thorough vetting process, when all of the successful candidates were in place, as he secured his own team to run as candidates at all three levels of civic governance, Council, Park Board and School Board.

Did William Azaroff put his imprint on OneCity Vancouver after winning the Mayoral nomination, indicate he believed their star candidate, longtime civic affairs journalist Frances Bula, must be a member of his team, that her nomination for Council would be a critical element in OneCity’s success at the polls in October?

No, he did not.

Can you imagine Mark Carney or David Eby lying back and taking no interest in who would be running for their respective parties in a coming election? In early 2020, longtime NDP Executive Director Raj Sihota had the support of the Vancouver-Hastings constituency executive and the members of the riding, and was their chosen candidate to represent the party in the upcoming election.

Next thing you know, Premier John Horgan — at the insistence of then NDP Attorney General, David Eby — parachuted in former Vancouver Park Board Chair, Niki Sharma, to seek the Vancouver-Hastings NDP nomination, with the full support of the provincial party. Next thing you know, Ms. Sharma secures the Vancouver-Hastings NDP nomination, emerges as the victor in the October 24, 2020 provincial election, shortly after which she was appointed our province’s Attorney-General, when David Eby took on the housing portfolio.

William Azaroff a leader? We think not.

Colleen Hardwick. Yep, she’s running for Mayor again, and doesn’t much of a chance of winning. Think: lost cause.

VanRamblings has written kindly and lovingly about our longtime friend.

But no more.

At a recent luncheon with a weathered confidante of the esteemed Ms. Hardwick, VanRamblings offered the comment …

“Colleen Hardwick can be difficult to get along with.” The rejoinder by our luncheon companion, said with a chuckle in his voice, “Raymond, Raymond, Colleen is not difficult to get along with, she is impossible to get along with.”

We continue to like Ms. Hardwick’s core message: neighbourhood empowerment, and community involvement in the development of new and updated neighbourhood community plans. That she is the only candidate to voice such policy, gets her no little support from us. Sadly, though, Colleen Hardwick is an imperfect messenger for her policy proposals. Speaking with friends we ran across while sauntering down West Broadway, our friend Helen — as we were speaking about the upcoming civic election — offered the following comment, unbidden …

“Colleen is sharp. And I don’t mean that in a kindly way. There is an edge to everything she says, almost an inherent meanness, an ‘I know better than you’ ethos that is off-putting, that causes me to think, ‘I kind of like what she has to say, but I don’t like at all how she goes about saying it’. For me, Colleen is an unpleasant character, and someone who I could not begin to support, no matter how much I like her message.”

Recently, Katie Hyslop, writing in The Tyee, published an article titled, Colleen Hardwick Is Running for Mayor Again. Midway through the article, Ms. Hyslop asked Colleen Hardwick a question about affordable housing, and homelessness.

Have you ever read such utter nonsense in your entire life?

Who, which voters, given a damn about “recovering balance” (whatever the heck that means). Not to mention, who gives, which voters and where are they, give a flying f-ck about “zone capacity” or the ” 2012 Coriolis report”?

We mean, really?

Who does Colleen Hardwick — running for Mayor again, don’tcha know — think her audience is, who are the voters — outside of pointy-headed, so called “intellectuals” at the universities in our region — is she attempting to communicate with, to garner their support, that she’s the right candidate to become the Mayor of Vancouver in 2026, that she can “recover balance” and change “zone capacity”?

Colleen Hardwick might well have said …

“Affordable housing must be addressed through the construction of housing co-operatives, where members pay no more than 30% of their income for their homes, where they are empowered to make decision-making on the Co-op’s finance, membership or maintenance committees. Where housing co-ops are built on a 99-year-leasehold basis, on city-owned land, or provincial or federal Crown land. Construction and materials are paid for through the Community Amenity Contributions made by developers building high rise condominiums. All this would be overseen by Thom Armstrong, who heads both the Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia, and the Community Land Trust. On top of that, the City would charge no development fees for the construction of this crucial affordable housing, saving millions.”

Or, in addressing the issue of homelessness, Ms. Hardwick could have reminded readers of the 2022 platform for TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, when she stated …

“There are 277 social agencies on the Downtown Eastside, located in the square mile around Hastings and Main. 277 very well-paid Executive Directors, Vice-Presidents, Directors of Human Resources, Property Managers, Directors of Supportive Housing, and more, staffed in each of these agencies, who engage in redundant work each and every day, putting money in their pocket at the expense of the vulnerable citizens they are charged to support. No wonder that for years, many in the community have called those who are employed by these agencies “poverty pimps”. Merge these agencies, leaving 40 agencies. TEAM wants to hire a “czar” — as David Eby has often said is the key to provide service to our city’s most vulnerable citizens, rather than line the pockets of the senior administrators. Billions of dollars could be saved, services rationalized, better service could be provided with savings applied to social housing construction.”

But did she say that, did she actually answer the question that was asked of her, in plain and simple language that all of us could understand? Could have been a great answer to a simple question. But Ms. Hardwick seems not capable of that.

Y’know, Ms. Hardwick, not every voter is a PhD candidate, as you are, or grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth, living in a home where their parents are a respected, tenured professor at the University of British Columbia, and their mother sat on the Vancouver Park Board as a multi-term Commissioner.

According to Statistics Canada, the “average level” of education in Vancouver-Point Grey / Vancouver Quadra is second year university. East of Main Street, the “average level” of education is Grade 8. There are 54 ethnic communities in Vancouver where the first language spoken in the home is neither French nor English. No wonder in Vancouver, there’s a paltry 36% turnout of eligible voters — if that — when a Vancouver City election is called every four years.

Fortunately, there’s a Mayoral candidate — and a couple of civic parties — in the current Vancouver City municipal election who are running a stealth campaign to get the vote out among people in those 54 under-represented communities who don’t go to the polls — but will in 2026 — when it comes time to cast their ballot for a new Mayor, a new and vibrant Vancouver City Council, and a grassroots, community-oriented Vancouver Park Board, and Vancouver Board of Education.

And we’re here to tell you, folks, that it ain’t Mayoral aspirant Colleen Hardwick, and her gang of well-meaning, and perhaps, under qualified candidate TEAM.

Muhammad Ahmad. VanRamblings predicts that Mr. Ahmad, and his recently created, AI generated (according to a friend of ours who has spoken with Mr. Ahmad) Bright Futures Vancouver municipal party will secure less than 2% of the vote come the evening of Saturday, October 17th. Chances are, though, that you are likely going to see Mr. Ahmad on at least some of the stages where Mayoral all-candidates meetings are being held, on various dates throughout September and October.

Part 1 of the column on current Vancouver Mayoral aspirants may be found here.
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Now, we’re going to say this again and again: there is no more honourable activity than offering yourself for public office, as a serious and well-experienced candidate with a vision, and a more than passing familiarity with civic governance, and how our city is run, who the important administrative staff at Vancouver City Hall are and what it is they do, that you’ve attended a surfeit of Vancouver City Council meetings, or if you’re running to become one of the nine elected trustees on Vancouver’s Board of Education (who are elected to office every four years) that you are a regular attendee at School Board meetings and have been for years, or if you’re running to become a Vancouver Park Board Commissioner that you’ve done your homework, that you have a OneCard stuffed in your wallet, your purse, or your shirt or blouse pocket, and know almost everything there is to know not just about Park Board governance but about Vancouver’s many community centres — where it is critical that you are a member of your local community recreation centre and make regular use of the facility, which is kind of a second home for you.

See you back here tomorrow, when we write about the recently concluded 79th annual Cannes Film Festival, which for years has acted as a predictor as to which films will emerge as Oscar contenders the following January, as was the case with the Grand Prix winner at Cannes in 2025, Sentimental Value, or Best Actor Oscar contender Wagner Moura, who won the Best Actor award at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in 2025 for his role as a dissident on the run in the political thriller The Secret Agent (directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho), among a host of others, not the least of whom was the Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner, Stellan Skarsgård, for his role as an acclaimed filmmaker and absent father, in Sentimental Value.

#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.