FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jun 29

How Bans On Abortions Have Implications For American Companies And Canadian Health Care

by bcurry

The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court has wide-reaching implications for major American corporations and for the health care system in Canada.

The New York Times reports that American employers are scrambling to prepare for possible legal challenges to their health care policies, as well as responding to scrutiny of their past political donations to politicians who supported abortion bans.  Some companies are exploring whether abortion-related travel costs would be reimbursed through medical plan providers, and employees can use their time off without noting the reason.  In addition to travel for primarily surgical abortions, new health care policies could also cover lodging, meals and child care.  Companies mentioned in the article include Disney, Macy’s, H&M, Nordstrom, Nike, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Snap, Starbucks and Yelp.  Salesforce and Google have both said they would even move employees who want to leave states where abortion is banned.  In some states, companies providing such assistance will most likely face political backlash from anti-abortion groups and possibly from state governments themselves.

For these companies, besides the extra expenses, what their support for employees seeking an abortion implies is that the potential impact on a woman’s privacy is a great concern and one possibly affecting her future employment.  Medical plan providers are certainly aware of privacy concerns, as they would be for any other personal health matters.  In addition, while there are currently no states with bans prosecuting women who travel out of state for an abortion, some legal experts think that those laws could be possible in the future.  As well, companies will have to be aware of state government attempts to use existing laws to prosecute abortion travel.  Apparently, Republican legislators in Texas have already said they plan to introduce legislation penalizing companies that pay for out-of-state abortion travel. 

In Canada, although we have legalized abortion under the federal Health Act, access to abortions services is limited in certain provincial and territorial jurisdictions which are responsible for the actual provision of health services.  For Canadians, the costs of an abortion are covered under Canada’s universal health insurance.  It is anticipated that many American women will be forced to travel across state lines to access abortion — barring those who can’t leave family, jobs or can’t afford to.  Some will even travel across international borders to Canada or Mexico in order to have the medical procedure done.  It is uncertain whether the health insurance providers of American companies will pay for surgical abortions performed in other countries such as Canada.  According to Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, the three provinces that may be most affected are Québec, Ontario and British Columbia.  Other provinces and the territories are less able to accept Americans for abortion-related services.  Any foreign increase in demand for such services will no doubt put a major strain on existing services.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), abortions using medications made up about 42% of procedures in 2019, while surgical abortions accounted for 49%.  In addition, American women with family incomes less than 100% of the federal poverty level accounted for almost half of all abortion patients in 2014.  It is therefore very unlikely that these women, especially poorer Black and Hispanic women, would hold good paying jobs in any of the American companies noted above.  The additional problem for American women is that abortion medications are much harder for women to access, and unaffordable unless covered by health insurance providers.  It has been reported by one of Canada’s primary abortion pill manufacturers that it is increasing supplies of Mifegymiso amid growing demand in this country and questions over what the impact of overturning Roe v. Wade will be.

In general, it is suggested that Canada should prepare for what is referred to as an increase in ‘abortion tourism’ out of the U.S.  There is little doubt that there will greater costs to American companies and Canadian abortion services, not to forget the tremendous physical and mental health costs to affected American women.

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Jun 25

Far More Political And Societal Division Among Americans Than Among Canadians

by bcurry

In July in both the U.S. and Canada, people will be respectively celebrating the birth of their countries.  However, these past few years have demonstrated a concerning growth in divisive politics, much more so in the U.S. than in Canada.  Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade allowing states to ban abortion.  This is despite the fact that polls have shown that only one in ten Americans want an absolute ban on abortion.  In Canada, the right to abortion is supported by all major political parties and the vast majority of Canadians.  When it comes to restrictions on accessibility to guns, the majority of Americans support increasing restrictions to gun ownership, while the gun lobby holds sway in Congress and many states.  Supported by the majority in Canada, there are restrictions on guns, especially handguns and military-style weapons — a number of the latter are outright banned.  Although numerous American organizations and groups have lobbied to eliminate the death penalty in half of the states where it exists, Canada did away with the death penalty decades ago.  It is now believed that the recent Supreme Court’s decision could also lead to a reconsideration of Americans’ right to same sex marriage, something which has been legalized in Canada for sometime now.

A new poll of Canadians by the U.K.’s well known pollster Lord Michael Ashcroft showed that Canada, rather than the polarized society on display in America, is described as a nation that is proud and hopeful.  He concluded that most Canadians are a lot more confident, empathetic, proud and trusting of their own democracy and national identity, frequently seeking a middle ground on controversial issues.  Fully seven in ten Canadians think Canada is one of the best places to live and multiculturalism is a healthy and important element of Canadian society and thus encourages immigration to the country.  Yes, there are some small vocal dissident groups who surface from time to time in Canada, but nowhere near the numbers of American right-wing and social conservative groups who even emerged to contest the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.  Thankfully, there is no equivalent to Donald Trump in Canada.

The current infringement on the rights of American women with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will further increase the division among Americans across the country.  This will become a highly contentious issue in the upcoming November elections, with pro-life and pro-choice candidates slugging it out on the hastings.  When a draft copy of the decision was leaked in May, even Donald Trump began telling friends and advisers that it would anger suburban women, a group who helped tilt the 2020 race to President Joe Biden.  He felt that would lead to a backlash against Republicans in the November midterm elections.  However, as per the New York Times, with the decision Trump put out a statement taking a victory lap, including applauding himself for sticking by his choice of nominees.  On top of which, the court’s decision is unfortunately expected to disproportionately affect minority women who already face limited access to health care.  In addition, for those women who can afford to come to Canada, Canadian abortion services are currently examining the potential impact in welcoming these Americans.

With respect to another grouping, our indigenous people of North America, both the U.S. and Canada in the past had used residential schools in an attempt to assimilate indigenous populations by eliminating their culture and languages.  However, unlike in the U.S., Canadians began a national reconciliation process reflecting honestly on the darkest parts of history and attempting to move forward to correct past abuses.  Canadians of all backgrounds have come forward to fully support the truth and reconciliation initiatives at all levels of society.  The same issue has barely been recognized in the States.

All in all, one cannot but conclude that there is far more political and societal division among Americans than among Canadians.  The next decade could prove to be one of the most explosive in American history, with the current polarization of American society almost as great as that preceding the American Civil War between the North and South over the abolition of slavery.  Only time will tell.  Not a great time to be living in the States!

Canada Donald Trump Extremist Groups Gun Control Indigenous Issues Populism Populism in Canada Presidential Election 2020 Republican Party US US Politics Women's Issues

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Jun 18

American Public School Teachers Facing Several Challenges Depending On Where They Teach

by bcurry

For decades now, many American primary and secondary school teachers have faced low wages and poor working conditions.  When adjusted for inflation, the national average salary for teachers has only somewhat increased over the past decade, according to the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union.  This is unlike in Canada where most teachers are members of strong provincial unions and are considered to be well paid and to have excellent benefit and retirement plans.  In many instances, there are long waiting lists for recent graduates from Canadian teachers’ colleges to become fulltime teachers.  In the U.S., several states are apparently loosing teachers for a number of reasons — low salaries being among the most important.

However, what has become more of a concern in American schools is the evident attempt within certain states, such as Florida, to inject politics into the state’s non-partisan school boards.  For example, under Governor Ron DeSantis, the Parental Rights Education Act was passed into law.  It has been dubbed by some critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill for its restrictions on what teachers can say about sexual orientation and gender identity.  Then in 2021, DeSantis signed an executive order banning school boards from enacting mask mandates during the pandemic and threatened to strip state funding from ones who did.  Such measures have encouraged some parents to replace school board trustees with more conservative members and to launch book bans within the school district.  Teachers perceived as teaching anything related to politics, race, history, gender identity and sexuality are often attacked and frequently forced to resign.  Teachers in some states believe that they are caught in the crosshairs of the current culture wars, and are increasingly being forced to leave their jobs at a time when good teachers are in short supply.

In recent years, administrators, teachers and school staff are facing increasing threats of violence to themselves and their students.  Mass school shootings, such as the most recent tragic one in Uvalde, Texas, appear to be on the increase.  Recent research by The Washington Post reveals that more than 300,000 children have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine High School massacre of April 20, 1999.  They found that last year there were 42 school shooting incidents – more than in any year since 1999.  Already this year alone there have been 24 acts of gun violence on K-12 campuses during the school day.  Since Columbine, the total amount of children, educators and other people killed during such traumatic incidents stands at 185, with another 369 injured.  Disconcertingly, in some states, they are putting forward arguments that teachers should be armed to protect themselves and their students.

For years, many school boards and administrators supported racial equity programs in their school districts.  However, more recently, even such programs are being challenged by conservative factions to the point where plans to beef up recruitment of a diverse teaching staff, to address the implicit biases of teachers and to overhaul discipline practices are all now dead or in limbo.  The Washington Post reported that, across the U.S. last year, school board elections became the epicenter of a culture war over race.  Conservative victories led many boards to fire superintendents and curtail racial justice initiatives.  In some districts, white teachers continue to far outnumber black teachers disproportionately to the schools’ black populations.  Discussions of “systemic racism” are even no longer permitted within the school districts.

All in all, although several states have given wage hikes and signing bonuses to teachers, the ability and freedom to teach within the curriculum has been greatly restricted.  In this day and age, it is not easy being an American in the teaching profession.  They must feel that they are constantly under attack and their teaching methods questioned at every turn.  No wonder so many are contemplating leaving this worthy profession.  A sad commentary for sure!

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Jun 8

When It Comes To Violent Crime In North America, All Is Not Well

by bcurry

The recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, and multiple shootings across the U.S. this past month, have once again raised the anger of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum.  The Democrats are being attacked by Republicans for being soft on crime and the Republicans are being accused of blocking proposed measures to restrict the sale and ownership of guns.  In Canada, the federal government has introduced legislation to further restrict access to handguns, including stopping the illegal trafficking of guns across the border with the U.S.  As recent polls have indicated, there is little doubt that Americans are feeling increasingly less safe.  With an increase in gun violence in some of Canada’s largest cities, Canadians are not far behind in their perception of growing violent crime.

The fact of the matter is that the issue of violent crime, like other social-economic issues, is a divisive one no matter how you look at it.  Conservatives will accuse liberals of letting criminals off the hook, while liberals will declare that conservatives have no other policy than putting everyone in prisons and increasing police powers.  Police shootings have also garnered the attention of both political groups, especially in the U.S.  Now, there is at least a belief that the police have to find better ways to deal with persons with mental health conditions and members of minority groups, incorporating social and health services available in the community.  There is also a need to deal differently with drugs and drug addicts, recognizing that addiction is a health issue and should be dealt with accordingly, especially in light of the current epidemic of overdoses in both countries.

Radicalization of youth, especially young men, has increasingly become a source of violent behaviour, often associated with hate crimes.  More needs to be done to deal with the spread of hate literature, disinformation and conspiracy theories over social media.  Surely, both conservatives and liberals can agree that more education has to be available and supported to prevent such influences.  The current division of beliefs and values based on racial, ethnic, religious and sexual orientation has to be dealt with in no uncertain terms.  The situation is eating away at the very core of our democratic societies.

There are no easy solutions to dealing with violent crime as a social issue.  Many factors have to be considered, including socio-economic matters.  Unemployment is a major one, wherein people are prevented from making a living wage and securing affordable housing.  Increased opportunities for an education aimed at preparing people to enter the labour market with applicable skills and attributes is another issue.  Communities need to be encouraged and supported in order to develop local initiatives aimed at reducing criminal activities.  Improvements have to be made to increase timely access to mental health and social services at the community level.  Localized addiction programs have to be improved, with the aim of tackling drug problems and preventing their associated health issues and fatalities.

Whether taking a hard-line approach or preferring a more progressive approach, neither alone offers one-size-fits-all solutions.  A multi-approach strategy is what is required, and political sloganeering is not going to do anyone any good.  Simply de-funding the police in support of promoting social measures is not the answer.  Retraining and re-educating the police in how to better deal with such issues as domestic violence, racism and mental disabilities would appear to be a much better idea.  In Canada, several municipal mayors have called on the federal government to ban the possession of handguns.  However, despite Canada’s already strict handgun control measures, there continues to be violent crimes committed with the use of illegal or stolen handguns.  Members of drug gangs and radical factions have little problems in accessing such weapons.  One day our prisons will be overflowing with their convicted felons.

Until we deal with the underlying socio-economic factors in both countries, one can only conclude that we will see increased waves of violent crime.  This outcome doesn’t depend on whether you have conservative or liberal governments.

Canada Gun Control Gun Control Gun Laws Race Relations US US Politics War on Drugs

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Jun 5

Weapons Sales by Canada and the U.S. Complicit in Supporting War Crimes by Saudi Arabia

by bcurry

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, mainly the United Arab Emirates, entered the Yemeni government’s war against the Houthi rebels in 2015, and began a wide-ranging aerial bombing campaign involving more than 150 airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen.  The United Nations calls the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, as it is estimated that the war with Yemen has killed more than 230,000 people as a result of the fighting or its indirect consequences, such as hunger and outbreaks of disease.  The war has pushed the impoverished Yemen to the brink of famine.  During this nearly decade-long war, both the U.S. and Canada fournished weapons, including F-15S/SA planes and Canadian-made light armoured vehicles (LAVs), artillery systems, and heavy machine guns.

In 2021, the Biden administration in 2021 announced an end to U.S. military support for “offensive operations” carried out by the Saudi-led coalition and suspended some munition sales.  However, aircraft maintenance contracts fulfilled by both the U.S. military and U.S. companies to coalition squadrons carrying out offensive missions have continued.  Canada’s military exports to Saudi Arabia actually increased in 2021, making the Saudi kingdom Canada’s top export destination for such goods after the U.S. —  64 percent of the total value of non-US military exports that year.  In 2020, a review was undertaken by the Canadian government of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, which concluded there was “no substantial risk” such transfers of military goods were “used to commit or facilitate violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, or gender-based violence”.  However, Amnesty International and Project Ploughshares have declared that the Canadian government’s review misinterpreted, or ignored, key pillars of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty, an international agreement signed by Canada regulating the international trade in conventional arms.  Contrary to what the federal government has said, they believe that Canada continues to ignore its international obligations to the Arms Trade Treaty.  On the other hand, the U.S., under Donald Trump, dropped out of the Arms Trade Treaty in 2019 for obvious misplaced domestic reasons.

Despite the fact that both countries have supported the kingdom, there have recently been signs of discontent with Saudi actions in Yemen and human rights violations by the Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  The murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018 by the Saudis did not help.  Nevertheless, we now have a planned trip by President Biden to Saudi Arabia to discuss increasing their production of oil, thereby helping his administration to lower gasoline prices in the U.S.  Although the U.S. helped diplomatically to arrange for a truce in the conflict between the Houthi in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the horrendous damage was already done in both civilian casualties and infrastructure, including homes, hospitals and communication towers in Yemen.  Since 2015, human rights groups investigating the airstrikes on Yemen have identified more than 300 that violated or appeared to violate international law.  Even as early as March 2015, Internal State Department documents noted that U.S. officials worried that coalition airstrikes may have violated the rules of war.

While the world is paying close attention to possible war crimes by the Russians in Ukraine, countries such as the U.S. and Canada have been probably aided, through the provision of weapons to the Saudis and their allies, similar atrocities in Yemen.  In addition, within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia there are a number of alleged human rights issues, including the imprisonment of political activists.  However, these concerns have not been enough for the U.S. and Canada to cease their military support to the country.  One has to believe it’s more about the oil than it’s about the revenue from exports of military weapons and maintenance contracts.  Alas, there are no comparable bans on the export of oil from the region compared to existing European, U.S. and Canadian bans on the import of oil and gas from Russia.  Despite unresolved diplomatic disputes between the Saudis and both our countries, access to oil reserves unfortunately continues to drive our immediate foreign policies in the region.

Arms Trade Arms Trade Treaty Canada Foreign Policy Oil and Gas Oil and Gas The Middle East US

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