Canada Revenue has been selectively targeting over 4000 First Nations individuals in biased and unfair collection practices. Most of the individuals affected are women who were largely earning minimum wage, working under an employee leasing program that supplied personnel to work in off-reserve Native non-profit agencies that served the urban Aboriginal population. Over three quarters of these 4000 individuals are sole support mothers with modest incomes while the overwhelming majority worked in the off-reserve non-profit sector. Legal steps to clarify a Status Indians right to tax exemption has been going through the courts since 1983 and there is a last remaining case currently before the Federal Court of Appeal. A Remission Order Application under the Financial Administration Act has been filed with the Canada Revenue Agency where processing has unfortunately been stalled. In the meantime, pursuant to an aggressive tax collection policy mandated by the former government, Revenue Canada officials have been making significant and onerous demands on these First Nations individuals. Examples of actions against these individuals include: - Seizing $23,000 of a lump sum pension from a woman with cancer who's only other source of income is CPP. - Forcing a former Native Leasing Services employee to take out a $62,000 mortgage on her home to satisfy a tax bill that started out as $10,000. - Garnisheeing the CPP of a 68 year old widow who is currently on sick leave from her job at a Native Centre. - Forcing a 60 year old Dryden area woman into bankruptcy over a $2000 tax bill that ballooned to $21,000 with interest. Canada Revenue collectors even went to her bank in an attempt to broker a loan to pay off the tax bill. - Clawing back GST and child tax credits from a legally blind woman and her husband whose tax bill is nearly $100,000 - mostly interest.

In our clinical experiences we regularly see patients burdened by the cost of medicines and unable to fill their prescriptions. We know how aware of this you are from your medical practice too. We are shocked by how medication costs are determined in Canada. Canadian physicians, residents, and medical students expect healthcare policy in this country to be evidence-based, and we have placed our trust in you to do this. We have the evidence now that a National Pharmacare Strategy would be cost effective, eliminating a long standing barrier to implementation – the belief that a universal publicly funded pharmacare plan would be too expensive. The landmark 2015 article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal builds on an already robust literature base articulating the need for a National Pharmacare Strategy. The findings of this cost-benefit analysis are that universal public drug coverage would reduce total spending on prescription drugs in Canada by an estimated $7.3 billion [link to study]. Citizens need provincial and federal buy-in for a pan-Canadian solution. As you have said, we need to do things differently. We need to bargain more effectively and revisit our relationship with Big Pharma, not accepting price inflations that are then offloaded onto third party insurers and out of pocket payers. We need to purchase smarter through national bulk purchasing strategies in order to secure lower, more reasonable drug prices. We need to use the best available evidence under the guidance of objective academic drug detailing programs and harness our purchasing power to bring costs down. During the election, as doctors of tomorrow we sought federal leadership that would return to undertaking pan-Canadian healthcare responsibilities. We have new CMA leadership from a long-serving rural physician, Dr. Granger Avery who, at the Canada 2020 Summit on a new Health Accord reiterated the need for a National Pharmacare Strategy. The CMA has identified that Universal Pharmacare is an integral component of a high performing system that cannot be ignored; it is a tenet underpinning every area of healthcare and would have the most substantial impact of any changes made to our system. With the billions saved, funds could be redirected towards home care, care of the elderly, care of Indigenous populations, and comprehensive mental health services. Consistent with the universality and equitable accessibility promised by the Canada Health Act, a National Pharmacare Strategy would be the epitome of action to fulfill Prime Minister Trudeau’s words of establishing strong national unity. As you have said, the last time a doctor was the Minister of Health was perhaps nearly a century ago. We appreciate your efforts to take steps towards lowering costs that Canadians face for their medications. This includes working to install regulatory changes to the way drug prices are set in Canada, and working with the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board. It is actionable steps like this that will pave the way toward Universal Pharmacare in our future. Yet, in order to most effectively move towards a goal, it needs to be stated with clarity and conviction. The current medico-political climate is unique, Dr. Philpott. We have informed physicians in leadership roles with awareness of evidence, relationship-building capacities to forge new alliances, and abilities to mobilize changemakers. We need to be bold and “think big” to make real change happen. Thus, we urge you to draw on your courage, seize this critical time in our Canadian history and commit to a National Pharmacare Strategy. If you don’t, who will? #makecanadianuniversalmedicareuniversal Visit a recent CBC Fifth Estate episode on Canada's Drug Problem (http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2016-2017/the-high-cost-of-phamaceuticals-canadas-drug-problem) and Minister Philpott's full interview (http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/blog/full-interview-with-minister-of-health-jane-philpott). See http://pharmacare2020.ca/ for additional information. Additional Reading: - Canada is the only country in the world that prides itself on universal healthcare, yet contradictorily does not have universal medication access. Canada has 19 publicly funded drug plans and over 1000 private insurance programs: a fragmented, non-equitable patchwork that leaves many uncovered. We spend 30% more on drugs than nations with Universal Pharmacare programs! - Canadians spend more than $700 US per capita for prescription, non-prescription, and personal health supplies, whereas the average per capita expenditure for OECD countries is $500. - In a recent Angus Reid Institute national survey nearly 1 in 4 Canadians did not take a prescribed medicine because she/he could not afford it. Food and shelter costs undermine medication costs when it comes to day-to-day survival. Inadequately treated chronic disease inevitably decompensates. Hospital admission for acute disease management then culminates in hefty inpatient costs. - Our generic drug prices are dependent on patented drug prices, established as the median of seven comparator OECD nations. This list includes the four places on the globe where drugs are most expensive. - Prices for the same medicines vary depending on province or territory of residence. In order to make drug prices more appealing to provincial and territorial governments, pharmaceutical companies artificially inflate prices to present the government with a “discount price,” whilst channeling the cost burden to third party insurers (10% higher costs compared to government costs) and most significantly to out of pocket purchasers, many of whom are the working poor. - Take the price of the common cholesterol medication, atorvastatin, which is cheapest in Ontario and costs 31 cents. Compare this to that same pill in New Zealand, which costs 2.6 cents!

TD Bank should be transparent in what it does with the money of its customers. I have deposited my hard earned money at TD Bank for many years and only recently discovered that TD Bank is using my money to support DAPL

Canada has to take action now to end its unfair and polluting subsidies to oil, gas, and coal companies. Canada's $3.3 billion in fossil fuel subsidies undermine the Paris Agreement’s climate change goals, and they even counteract attempts to put a price on carbon. Trying to put a price on carbon while still subsidizing fossil fuel production is like pouring water on the fire with one hand, while spraying gasoline on it with the other. It just doesn't make sense. The Trudeau government can act immediately with a commitment and a plan to get rid of these subsidies by 2020. Four years is more than enough time to wind down polluter handouts. Instead of subsidies that favour the wealthy, we need public investment that helps us move more quickly to sustainable solutions. Let’s put an end to fossil fuel subsidies.

I'm very curious about something and it has my mind boggled. Switch over parking from one side to the other and parking tickets. So today I get a ticket in my car at 9:10am as I am walking to my car. He is ticketing all cars that haven't moved to the other side. So I speak with him and say why would you be doing this when it is 9 in the morning and some people haven't even got up yet... Work schedules etc. He says don't ask me... Thy tell us to and then you can go down and get it cancelled. I'm confused at this point and he says yup. You have a valid parking tag in your windshield and if it's before noon you can have it canceled. So at this point I become increasingly angry (not at him) because basically what he is telling me is that they are pumping out these tickets at 50 bucks a pop and you only need to send it in or go there to have it cancelled. How many tax payer dollars are being wasted on this pathetic practice?! Let's see. There are thousands of cars being ticketed every switch over morning and hundreds or parking enforcement officers doing it and then the car owner can go get it cancelled so there is manpower there doing that side of it. He shook his head and said it makes no sense as bylaw says ticket and city says we will cancel it. What the actual heck??? This is insane to me that our tax dollars are being spent on staffing this. Absolutely nuts!!! It says right on the site that you can have a noon grace to have it cancelled. Doesn't anyone fine this infuriating?!?! Place a noon deadline bylaw and no forgiveness. The end!!! Unbelievable ... Millions of Tax dollars wasted! And we sit back and allow this to happen!! Outrageous!

Chinatown is under siege. A proposed market rate development on 105 Keefer Street threatens the cultural and economic fabric of Chinatown. “Our Chinatown is being bought up by developers. What’s going to be left in Chinatown for people like me when the dust settles?” protested Ivy Su, a resident in the neighbourhood. Ms. Su’s concerns are real. Vancouver Chinatown was not-so-honoured to be designated a Top 10 Endangered Places List according to the National Trust for Canada. Intense market development pressure has pushed small businesses out and housing costs up. Chinatown is really under siege. And now, to add insult to injury, Beedie Group proposes desecrating the cultural heart of Vancouver Chinatown with a dominating luxury high rise development at 105 Keefer Street. How is the 105 Keefer site at the heart of Vancouver Chinatown? It is surrounded by the culturally significant Chinese-Canadian war veterans and railway workers monument, the Chinese Cultural Centre and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. The site is close to the National Historic Site where important heritage buildings such as the Chinese Benevolent Association and the Chinese Freemasons are located. A luxury market development at this site would violate/disrespect Chinatown's distinct character as well as the livelihoods of the people living here. Gentrification is already severely overrunning the entire Downtown Eastside and the plan by the Beedie Group to build a complex at 105 Keefer will only worsen this problem, which we and groups dedicated to saving Chinatown have been battling against for the past few years. On the contrary, Chinatown residents and organizations are proposing the site be used for low-income seniors housing and an intergenerational community space. Ms. Su offers a brighter future: “We hope that the government will purchase the land to provide housing for us so that we are not without homes”. Ms. Su continues, “We’ve seen Chinatown change so much over the past years, but the changes are overwhelmingly for the higher income people moving in. We need more developments that meet our needs for affordable housing and for spaces to socialize with each other.” We can’t afford to lose more of our precious Chinatown! (Photo Credits: Christina Lee)

CETA is not in the interests of the Canadian People.

For years, Christy Clark’s government has been slashing education funding and delaying much-needed seismic upgrades. As a parent, it felt like the Vancouver School Board were the only elected representatives who were on our side and willing to fight for safe, fully-funded schools. The Vancouver School Board was planning to finally pass a balanced budget in a meeting tonight, in order to secure essential funding for seismic upgrades -- but incredibly, the Education Minister fired them before their meeting.[3] Now, the Vancouver School Board is essentially being run out of the Premier’s office, by an unelected political appointee. This could become a major scandal that will follow the BC government all the way to the ballot box in May’s provincial election, and they know it. It starts with a huge petition calling on Education Minister Mike Bernier to reverse this terrible decision. If you agree that firing the elected VSB trustees is an outrage, sign the urgent petition to Education Minister Mike Bernier now. Sources: [1] Vancouver School Board fired by B.C. education minister (CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-school-board-fired-1.3808674 [2] Former Vancouver School Board chair Mike Lombardi calls firing ‘outrageous’ http://globalnews.ca/news/3007688/b-c-education-minister-mike-bernier-set-to-address-vancouver-school-board-situation/ [3] Vancouver School Board to approve budget after months of delay, controversy (CBC) http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-school-board-intend-budget-approval-1.3808204

It is up to each of us to risk backlash over staying silent on an issue that affects all of us. In case you missed it... Yesterday, TELUS sent out a simple tweet supporting climate action by the Government of Canada. Rebel Media decided to use it against the company, encourage a social media backlash, insult its Chief Sustainability Officer, and gather 5,000 signatures on a petition that encourages people to Cancel their TELUS services solely because of its support for climate action. As a result, the company has had to retreat back into the dark cave of PR damage control, apologize for its statement, delete the tweet, and deal with competitors trying to steal customers who express disagreement on social media. We keep talking about how we need our corporations and institutions to rise above, to take a courageous stance on the issues that matter most, and to care about more than just their own financial sustainability. I work at TELUS but am speaking as a Canadian: we cannot allow a few people to use the 'power' of social media to discourage big companies from acting on one of the biggest issues of our time that will affect our children, grandchildren, and generations to come. Here are a few facts: - Telus isn’t the only big company inside Smart Prosperity or the only firm backing carbon pricing - Loblaws, RBC and Tembec are all members of the environmental coalition - Ahead of the global agreement in Paris on carbon emissions last year, major global companies issued a call for carbon pricing systems. BP plc, Royal Dutch Shell pls, Statoil ASA and Total SA were among the firms who called for pricing - Top oil sands firm Suncor Energy also supports carbon pricing, though they haven’t released a statement on the new federal plan. The Mining Association of Canada has also stated its support for carbon pricing SIGN the petition NOW and let's show Rebel Media what Canadians really believe and stand for.

This creates high paying jobs for hundreds of thousands of Canadians and helps build the middle class back to the strength is deserves.

This is important because all 530 acres of land belonging to Six Nations will be used for the Empire Homes housing development and a park. As it stands now we would lose 330 acres of this land and receive 200 acres elsewhere. Six Nations people want land for their children and grandchildren so they can build homes in the future. This proposed deal is not a fair deal for us. We can no longer afford to accept" it's better than nothing"

These graduated students are the emerging middle class. An strong middle class is a prerequisite for the economic development of any country. If they begin their working lives with a burden of a debt, it is not good for them and Canada.