The Hippocratic Oath is taken by physicians entering the medical profession. In part it reads:
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
In early 2020, just as the Coronavirus swept into Canada, Dr. Brooks Fallis became the Interim Medical Director of the Critical Care team at William Osler Health System in Brampton, Ont. Dr. Fallis was forced to confront what he says will probably be “my biggest challenge as a physician.”
He embarked on a journey to care for his critically ill patients suffering from COVID-19 in the ICU, “the infirm” as the Oath calls them. He also committed himself to fulfil the Oath’s obligation to “all my fellow human beings.”
Dr. Fallis did that by doing media interviews when asked, writing opinion pieces and signing up on Twitter. As the pandemic worsened Dr. Fallis says he “felt this sort of moral obligation to speak out.” His target, time and again, was the strategy adopted by the Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford to contain COVID-19.
In early 2021 a new COVID strain, Alpha, was taking hold in Canada and Dr. Fallis believed the government did not recognize the urgency of the crisis at hand. He took to Twitter repeatedly calling out Premier Ford directly. He fired off this tweet on January 5, “The truth: Doug Ford has absolutely no clue what he’s doing.”
Two weeks later the hospital sent Dr. Fallis a letter terminating his leadership role. Dr. Fallis believes his advocacy was the cause. “I felt I’d been removed from the position because of political pressure and not because of my work,” he says.
On a video call with his bosses days after his termination notice the then Chief of Staff, Dr. Frank Martino, seemed to confirm Dr. Fallis’ impression. “There were comments made either on Twitter or comments made during interviews about government and about politicians.” Dr. Martino said.
Both the hospital and Premier Ford denied that there was political pressure on what both say was a Human Resource matter.
Dr. Fallis’s response? “I’ve never said that Doug Ford got me fired or asked for me to be fired. I’ve never said that. I’ve always just said that the hospital was experiencing pressure from the government to try to rein in the public commentary I was making.”
Today Dr. Fallis’ commitment to the Oath is firm. “People need to be able to feel like they can say things freely and criticize organizations or governments and not feel that they might face disciplinary action for that.”
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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.
