Yukon Party leader Currie Dixon has called into question the ethics and decision-making of the Chief Medical Officer of Health in an open letter that criticized Brendan Hanley’s decision to enter politics.
In his letter, Dixon criticizes the “outsized role” Hanley took in day-to-day operations of the government as top doctor, including extensive media interviews and the advice to cut the legislative sitting short when the pandemic began.
Dixon wrote that at the time “his recommendations were given the benefit of the doubt and seen as benign public health advice.”
“I’ve personally defended Dr. Hanley numerous times over the past year and a half, when people have said that he is of a certain partisan persuasion, and I always dismissed it,” said Dixon, in an interview with the News. “That is called into question now.”
Dixon said in his letter that it is unlikely that Hanley’s decision to run for office was made in just a few days, and questioned how he could remove his political aspirations from his decisions leading up to the campaign announcement.
The Yukon News requested an interview with Hanley after the letter was published on Aug. 24, but campaign manager Moira Lassen said his travel schedule to Beaver Creek and Old Crow was too busy to speak with the paper.
Instead, the campaign put out a press release.
“Let me be clear. There is no room for partisanship in the role of the Chief Medical Officer of Health. I can say without hesitation that I always conducted myself in a non-partisan and impartial way,” the page-long statement, attributed to Hanley, said.
“Personal attacks designed to damage my reputation will not deter me from campaigning to become Yukon’s next member of Parliament,” it continues.
He also clarified that he is no longer receiving pay or benefits from the CMOH position, and said he approached the Liberal Party about running only after MP Larry Bagnell announced his decision to step down.
Hanley is currently on leave from his position. Asked about his intentions when he announced his campaign on Aug. 10, Hanley said he would plan to return to the role if he lost the election.
But Dixon said all the recent decisions made by Hanley are now tainted by his run for office. He also called Hanley to resign from his position so that the government could move forward with finding a permanent replacement.
“The idea that he could return to his role of CMOH after an unsuccessful election is completely untenable now that he has revealed his partisanship; he must resign immediately,” wrote Dixon.
“Yukoners were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to Brendan Hanley during an unprecedented health emergency. But it remains to be seen if they will appreciate learning that he was simply an aspiring politician using his position to further his profile and gear up for an election,” he finishes his letter.
Contact Haley Ritchie at
haley.ritchie@yukon-news.com
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
