Question Period - PC's on last political legs

Watch carefully, Question Period in the House of Assembly. There is a real sign that the Tories are on their last political legs.

Question Period is to gain information from government and to call on government to account for its policies and actions.

Members Opposite ask the questions and government provides the answers. We all know that our government is not very good at providing answers and for the most part Question Period is like an adult playground for Government Ministers and Members.

These days - however there is one particular behavior that is ramping up. When an Opposition or Third Party Member asks a question more often than not the Minister responding - says "I want to know what the Liberals or NDP" thinks about this or that - or supports this or that.

This is going to become a "be careful what you wish for" scenario. So the Ministers of the Dunderdale government want to ask questions in the House of Assembly - no problem - just hang on for a couple of years and the few who are left standing will get plenty of time to do just that.

The Dunderdale Ministers and backbench hecklers are begging - no longing - to become Opposition - keep it up and they will get their wish.

Soon enough the few that are left can become a real rat-pack and ask all the questions they like.

The partisan zealotry of this government and vindictiveness toward those who are not absolute Kool-Aid drinkers goes beyond anything most of us have seen before. These people are not fit to govern and are absolute abusers of power.

Will any of them do a polygraph? We are the employers so maybe that's what we should demand.

Loss of Millions $$$ from Health Care - Secret Committee

Do you want to witness wastage of our health care dollars?

An open request to the Auditor General: Please review the workings, processes, and results of the interchangeable drug review advisory committee.

This committee consists of individuals appointed by the Minister of Health and must comprise of 2 pharmacists, 2 physicians, the Deputy Minister, and other persons the Minister may wish to appoint.

When a drug comes off patent and generic equivalents are made available - this committee reviews submissions by generic drug companies to have their products listed on our formulary. These drugs which range between 50-60% of brand price have the potential to save tens of millions of dollars a year.

First you must understand that in order for a generic to be permitted for use in Canada - Health Canada reviews the scientific data and confirms that the generic is safe. Once that has occurred any pharmacy in Canada can purchase the drug and dispense it under various private insurance plans and cash paying customers. In fact these new generic equivalents are almost immediately available in our hospitals - and quite often are dispensed to a patient when in hospital - only to be unavailable at a retail pharmacy when they are released.

Newfoundland and Labrador is notoriously slow to list many of these generic equivalents as they become available. This money is wasted and over the years the tens of millions could be hundreds of millions. In some cases one month delay equals over $100,000 loss of health care dollars.

So how is it that other provinces in Canada are dispensing a generic equivalent under publicly funded drug cards and hospitals in our province are dispensing this same drug - but this "committee" has not cleared it for retail pharmacies - costing us tens of millions of dollars?

The review committee sits in private and the deliberations are secret. The minutes are not available to the public.

Will the media attempt to find the answers to this gross wastage of health care dollars? Will the Auditor General review this situation and report to the House of Assembly what is going on?

Will the Opposition parties step to the plate?

This is a serious and ongoing issue - that is being kept from public scrutiny.