Go to The Globe and Mail

 

Blogs

Featured:

Dr. Carolyn Bennett, the Liberal health critic, speaks alongside fellow MPs Dr. Kirsty Duncan, Dr. Bernard Patry, Dr. Hedy Fry and Dr. Keith Martin at an Ottawa news conference on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 11:44 AM

Calling all Liberal MDs

Jane Taber

There is the auto caucus, the sugar caucus, the rural caucus and now there is the “doctors’ caucus.”

It has been born of the H1N1 vaccination crisis. And this morning, five Liberal MPs, all doctors - Hedy Fry, Carolyn Bennett, Keith Martin, Bernard Patry and Kirsty Duncan - held a news conference this morning to criticize the government’s handling of the H1N1 situation.

The Liberals are pushing hard on this issue. The latest salvo comes just after last night’s emergency debate in the House of Commons on H1N1. The Liberals had asked the Speaker to allow the debate.

Today, Dr. Bennett, the Liberal health critic, raised questions about the details of the contract between the federal government and GlaxoSmithKline, the producer of the vaccine. It is the only supplier for the Canadian government, but no details of that contract are available.

“We should be able to see the contract,” Dr. Bennett said. “There’s lots of questions around it and we need to know what it says.”

Surrounded by her colleagues, who all criticized the government for poorly communicating and preparing Canadians on the issue, Dr. Bennett said that during last night’s debate, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff demonstrated the different views of the government and the Liberals in handling this crisis.

“Michael Ignatieff was very clear that the public health of a nation is indeed the role of government and in Canada the role of the federal government is to lead,” she said.

The Liberals noted that the World Health Organization made clear in July that mass vaccination was necessary, yet the Conservative government didn't order the shots until August.

They also released a timeline to bolster their contention that Canada is failing to respond to the flu crisis as effectively as other countries.

Liberal backgrounder - H1N1 timeline

Latest Comments

Latest posts from the Ottawa Notebook

Dion's wife goes rogue? Nov 22, 2009 2:35PM EST

Tories tar long-gun success by 'swinging too hard' on torture Nov 20, 2009 7:18PM EST

More OLO departures? Nov 20, 2009 3:14PM EST

How cartoonists see Afghan torture Nov 20, 2009 1:38PM EST

Ignatieff slips further behind in poll Nov 20, 2009 1:03PM EST

NDP, Billy Bragg make case for free music Nov 20, 2009 10:52AM EST

Latest posts from the Ottawa Notebook

More politics posts

Bruce Anderson

Ugly stalemate on torture 12:48 PM EST

Tim Powers

Credibility and the Colvin debate 12:16 PM EST

Spector Vision

PM mum on Afghanistan 11:54 AM EST

Spector Vision

Advice for the PM Nov 21, 2009 9:53AM EST

Brian Topp

Steady as she goes Nov 20, 2009 2:49PM EST

More politics posts

Ottawa Notebook Contributors

Jane Taber, senior political writer

Jane Taber

Jane Taber has been on Parliament Hill since the Mulroney days, first writing for the Ottawa Citizen in 1986. Since then, she's reported for a small television network, WTN, and for the National Post before joining The Globe’s parliamentary bureau in 2002. She is the senior political writer and also co-host of Question Period, which airs Sundays on CTV.

 
John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson started at The Globe in 1999 and has been Queen's Park columnist and Ottawa political affairs correspondent. Most recently, he was a correspondent and columnist in Washington, where he wrote Open and Shut: Why America has Barack Obama and Canada has Stephen Harper. He returned to Ottawa as bureau chief in 2009. Before joining The Globe, he worked as a reporter, columnist and Queen’s Park correspondent for Southam papers.

 

Steven Chase

Steven Chase has covered federal politics in Ottawa for The Globe since mid-2001. He's previously worked in the paper's Vancouver and Calgary bureaus. Prior to that, he reported on Alberta politics for the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and on national issues for Alberta Report. He's had ink-stained hands for far longer though, having worked as a paperboy for the (now defunct) Montreal Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Vancouver Sun and the North Shore News.

 
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark has been a political writer in The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau since 2000. Before that he worked for The Montreal Gazette and the National Post. He writes about Canadian politics and foreign policy. He stopped being fascinated by ShamWow commercials after that guy’s nasty incident in Florida, but still wonders if one can really pull a truck with that Mighty Putty stuff.

 

Bill Curry

A member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1999, Bill Curry worked for The Hill Times and the National Post prior to joining The Globe in Feb. 2005. Originally from North Bay, Ont., Bill reports on a wide range of topics on Parliament Hill. He is very protective of the office copy of Marleau & Montpetit.

 

Gloria Galloway

Gloria Galloway has been a journalist for almost 30 years. She worked at the Windsor Star, the Hamilton Spectator, the National Post, the Canadian Press and a number of small newspapers before being hired by The Globe and Mail as deputy national editor in 2001. Gloria returned to reporting two years later and joined the Ottawa bureau in 2004. She has covered every federal election since 1997 and has done several tours in Afghanistan.

 

Daniel Leblanc

Daniel Leblanc studied political science at the University of Ottawa and journalism at Carleton University. He became a full-time reporter in 1998, first at the Ottawa Citizen and then in the Ottawa bureau of The Globe and Mail. While he likes the occasional brown envelope, he is also open to anonymous emails.

 

Stephen Wicary

Stephen Wicary has been with The Globe since 2001, working on the news desk as a copy editor, page designer, production editor and front page editor. During the U.S invasion of Iraq, he pulled a three-month stint as overnight editor of the website. He moved to the parliamentary bureau at the end of 2008 to bolster online political coverage.