Scrapped sugar tax won't hurt glucose monitoring program, says health minister
CBC
Days after Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan promised to scrap the sugar tax, the province's health minister promised the program it helped fund will be safe from cuts.
The Sweetened Beverage Tax, also known as the sugar tax, added 20 cents to the cost of each litre of sugar sweetened beverages and brought in approximately $12-million annually.
On Wednesday in the House of Assembly, NDP MHA Jordan Brown raised concerns for the future of programs the tax helped fund, including the glucose monitoring pilot program.
Health Minister Krista Lynn Howell says that program is safe.
"There will be no cuts to programming on our continuous glucose monitoring," Howell told reporters on Wednesday.
"Actually we've had some great results from our pilot project, and stay tuned because within a week or so we're hoping to make an announcement on how we can expand that."
The Department of Health has different ways it allocates funding, and the glucose monitoring pilot program is a priority, she added.
Brown also asked if the provincial government would sign on to the federal pharmacare program.
"Will you finally sign on to the federal pharmacare program, which includes funding for medications, glucose monitoring and test strips," he asked.
Howell said she's looking forward to speaking to the new federal health minister.
"We know that pharmacare is something that will benefit individuals all across this country. Newfoundland and Labrador will not be left behind," she said.
On another topic, PC MHA Lin Paddock withdrew a comment he made Tuesday in the House when he accused the governing Liberals of "cooking the books" and called for the firing of Finance Minister Siobhan Coady.
Paddock's comments stemmed from a CBC News story on how the provincial government used decades of future revenue from a pending settlement with tobacco companies against the province's deficit in a pre-election budget.
A point of order was later called by the Liberal Party, but Paddock withdrew his comments before Speaker Derek Bennett could announce his decision on whether or not the comment was unparliamentary.
The decades-long problem of derelict properties plaguing Edmonton is now turning a corner, according to one city councillor and a long-time resident of the Alberta Avenue neighbourhood.
The policy that allows faith-based health-care providers to ban medical assistance in dying in their facilities is being tested now in B.C. Supreme Court. The plaintiffs want to see the policy struck down so patients don't have to transfer to another facility in the final moments of their lives.
Black History Month starts Feb. 1, a time used to honour the contributions, heritage and legacy of Black people in Canada.
A blast of Arctic air is pushing the temperatures even further down across southwestern Ontario on Friday — including in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton.
Daniel Cruz was browsing displays of trading cards in Calgary’s ShoeBox Games & Cafe last October when he saw two people walk in, both dressed in black and sporting skull face paint — not an unusual sight on Halloween.
More Albertans are waiting longer than clinically recommended for critical cardiac and cancer surgeries, sparking concern among health experts and calls for urgent action.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.