Canada's First Green Party MP

Independent MP Blair Wilson has joined the Green Party of Canada, making him the first-ever Green politician in the Commons. Having a sitting Party member makes Green Party Leader Elizabeth May’s chances of a spot in the televised leaders’ debates a near certainty in an increasingly likely fall election.

May called it an historic day at an Ottawa news conference this morning.

Wilson is the MP for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country. He resigned from the Liberal Party under a cloud almost a year ago after questions were raised about his personal finances and has been sitting as an independent MP since the fall of 2007. He was completely clearned of all charges after an 8 month investigation by Elections Canada.

While a spot in the debates isn’t guaranteed, May said the broadcast media consortium that sets the ground rules for the French and English debates has no choice but to ensure she is included now that the party has an MP.

“We believe that under all the criteria that have been put forward . . . that we now have made thoroughly the case that I must be included,” May said.

The Conservative Party and NDP still oppose May's place in the debate; only the Liberals have voiced no opposition.

In Guelph Green Party Canadidate Mike Nagy is showing strong in the Polls and has collected over $40,000 in donations. The bi-election is on September 8th and the Greens could have two members in Parliment.

Scarborough GPO CA Supports Mike Nagy

On August 14, 2008 Linda and I joined by our daughter and her family traveled to Guelph Ontario to show our support for GPO Candidate Mike Nagy in his bi election bid. Mike stands a remarkably good chance of becoming the first sitting Green in Parliament.

Here is a brief little video of our visit:

Return To The Future

Help Sophia Save The World

Bill C-51: What does Health Canada mean by Efficiency and why is it important

by Greg Knittl Scarborough Guildwood

some examples from
http://www.healthycanadians.ca/pr-rp/billC-51_e.html as of
2008-07-31

2. Why is it necessary to regulate natural health products?

"to ensure that ... health claims are supported by evidence"

23. What is the future under Bill C-51 for supplements and will
there be
regulated doses? Will 100mg tablets of vitamin C be available
and allowed without prescription?

"Allowable dosage levels for all natural health products will
continue to be determined by the evidence provided to support
their safety and efficacy."

In ideal world where Health Canada actually encouraged
Natural Health Products (NHPs) and sponsored research,
efficacy would cause less concern. In the current situation
where Health Canada derives considerable funding from
Pharmaceutical companies the regulatory mindset for drugs
spills over to NHPs.
http://www.naturalnews.com/011401.html explains how the US
FDA regulates drugs and I think also helps to explain what
Health Canada is saying and doing:

"there are two things that the FDA determines when it looks
at a drug: it determines whether or not a drug is safe and
it determines whether or not it's effective. Regarding the
determination of drug effectiveness, I think the FDA does a
pretty good job. If the FDA says that the drug will
have a particular effect, probably for many of the patients
who take the drug it will actually have that effect. If the
FDA says a given drug
will lower blood pressure and you're somebody who has
high blood pressure, there's a good chance that the drug
will have an effect that lowers your blood pressure. That
has to do with the rigor with which they force the drug
companies to establish that the drug actually has an effect."

Efficacy can be used to impose significant barriers on natural
products because:
1/ Natural Products can have complex mechanisms of action.
Sunshine has been around for ever, but Vitamin D was only
discovered in 1918, and it
was only 1998 that Dr. Michael Holick demonstrated that
cells throughout
the body can activate Vitamin D, not just the kidneys, which
indicated why the body might need more Vitamin D than previously
understood.
2/ NHPs are typically not patentable and not paid for by
hospitals and drug plans so there is little money for research.

In 2007 Health Canada was still recommending 400IU of Vitamin D
per day, when the Canadian Cancer Society moved to 1000 IU.
Much evidence suggests the real daily requirement is even higher.
Health Canada states
http://www.healthycanadians.ca/pr-rp/billC-51_e.html point 1:
"the standards that are used to assess the risks and benefits
of natural health products will continue to incorporate history
of use, traditional uses and cultural practices." If Health
Canada can take such a narrow view of Vitamin D, traditionally
used for ever in the form of sunshine,
where significant research had been done, you can imagine
the position they might take on any more novel NHP. In fact
Health Canada is rejecting a high percentage of licence requests
for NHPs.http://www.stopc51.com/c51/worse_than_we_thought.asp

NHPs are the opposite of drugs: generally safe with few side
effects but whose primary effects may be diffuse or long term
and known only through experience and observation not double
blind experiments. For NHPs Health
Canada should stick to regulating safety. It would be great
if Health Canada would sponsor original research into efficacy
and make it available as non-binding education. We and our
practitioners should be able to use NHPs and decide if they
are effective, not Health Canada.

Further information and action:

Green party C-51 press release:
http://www.greenparty.ca/en/releases/12.05.2008

http://www.commonground.ca/iss/205/cg205_tcm.shtml efficacy in the
context of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Some of the many national websites dedicated to stopping C-51:
www.cnhc.ca
www.stopc51.com
www.nhppa.org

Some Magazines that cover C-51:

http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/ where Helke Ferrie and others have
written on C-51
http://commonground.ca/iss/204/cg204_C51_readers.shtml (Helke Ferrie has
a comment here too)

Greg Knittl maintains an email list by riding to connect those
interested in working together to stop C-51 in their riding. To join
email gknittl@sympatico.ca and give your riding, postal code or MP

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