Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog: Part 7 – The Candidates Speak-Up

The federal election candidates have responded and here’s what they’ve been saying

Dear One & All,

At the beginning of last week, I sent Tweets to all federal candidates of all parties who hold Twitter accounts, asking the question:

If elected, what will you and your party do to ensure the federal government creates a minimum standard of drug coverage for all Canadians?

Federal Parties have varied representation on Twitter. The Liberals lead the way with 154 candidates tweeting up a storm. The NDP have 139 candidates engaging with voters, the Green Party 126 and the Conservatives lagging behind with 86 candidates. It took a lot of Tweeting to get the question out to each of these candidates!

As of April 17th, 62 candidates had responded to my Tweets:

• 24 Liberal candidates (16% of those on Twitter)
• 23 Green Party candidates (18% of those on Twitter)
• 14 NDP candidates (10% of those on Twitter)
• 1 Conservative candidate (1% of those on Twitter)

Liberal candidates keyed in on messages around the creation of a national drug plan, and ensuring affordability of drugs for all Canadians:

• “will address coverage of catastrophic drug costs and work to lower procurement costs for all prescription drugs” –Stan Kutcher, Liberal Candidate for Halifax via Twitter
• “Liberals propose national drug plan covering cost of prescription drugs for illnesses such as cancer, diabetes or arthritis” – James Morton, Liberal Candidate for Oshawa via Twitter

NDP candidates got back to me with their visions for a federally funded universal drug plan:

• “introducing national legislation for a federal funded drug plan, which would reduce the cost of medication” – Jagmeet Singh, NDP Candidate for Bramalea-Gore-Malton via Twitter
• “NDP supports universal pharmacare. I’ve been working on a Bill; excited to intro it when House resumes!”- Megan Leslie, NDP Candidate for Halifax via Twitter

The Green Party provided commentary on the “reinvention of pharmacare” and in one instance, talked about how cancer had impacted them personally:

• “Page 77 of Vision Green spells out Green platform to re-invent Pharmacare.” – Michael Bell, Green Party Candidate for Peterborough via Twitter
• “set up a national pharmacare program and make new drug patent protection shorter. Lost my Mother to cancer in 2007” – Sheila Brown-Eckersley, Green Party Candidate for Calgary NE via Twitter

Conservatives were very quiet on the Twitter front, and the one candidate who did weigh in didn’t provide much insight into the Party’s vision for national drug coverage (if there is one):

• “Drug care is a prov jurisdiction but we are strong supporters of health care which allows prov to do more” – David Morse, Conservative Candidate for Kings Hants via Twitter

Overall, candidates effectively used Twitter to respond to my question, in many cases providing links to specific facets of their platform related to a national catastrophic drug coverage plan. The Conservative’s continue to be very quiet on this issue, failing to provide any leadership at a federal level on this issue that impacts all Canadians.

This week, I’ll be sending another wave of Tweets to candidates to ensure they are aware of the facts about catastrophic drug coverage in Canada, and ensuring they are clear our Canadian’s belief that where you live shouldn’t determine if you live.

In the spirit of peace, order and good government,

Mike

Click below to read previous blog postings
As the election approaches, Canadians can now make a choice on a National Catastrophic Drug Coverage plan
Election 2011 – will we vote?
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 7: The Candidates Speak-Up
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 6
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 5
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 4
Leaders Debate Special
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 3
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 2
Have your say in next week’s federal election leaders’ debates
Mike Kennedy’s 2011 Federal Election Blog – Part 1
Cancer and the Federal Election: