Conspiracy nut in the Senate

The NDP has been running an attack on the large paycheques and bonuses going to the unelected (which is all of them) senators of Canada. Their latest feature is Liberal senator Joseph Day.

Canadians can sleep soundly this holiday season knowing that Liberal Senator Joseph Day is hard at work making sure that federal legislation reflects the interests of oft-forgotten constituents … constituents like our nation’s conspiracy theorists.

For the past 178 days, legislation intended to protect consumers from dangerous products – legislation adopted by elected MPs in the House of Commons — has been held up by unelected Senators.

In committee hearings on the bill, Senators were told by one witness to ignore the campaign against the bill by the Canadian Coalition for Health Freedom. Prominent environmentalist Rick Smith cited the group’s website as arguing “that 9/11 was caused not by terrorists but by a global conspiracy run by David Rockefeller” and that “a global conspiracy” is responsible for the H1N1 virus. (Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, 29 October 2009)

Amazingly, Liberal Senator Day, the lead critic of the bill, rushed to the defence of the conspiracy theorists: “I think it’s incumbent upon us now, since they’ve been described as loony people, to have an opportunity to be here and to represent themselves."

It’s good to hear that Rick Smith is standing up for some sanity in the house of “sober second thought,” but it is concerning that Day feels that “loony people” deserve to have the ear of the government.

You can check out the CCHFs website, and note lines like “Federal Regulatory Harassment is Destroying Canada,” and their mission statement, which speaks for itself:

1. To ensure that all sovereign spiritual human beings have the inherent sovereign right of informed freedom of choice when considering their personal health care options and in pursuing their livelihood in the profession and small family enterprises of their choice whether incorporated or not.
2. To educate and inform all sovereign spiritual human beings and sole and aggregate corporations about the simple truth that the majority of modern day, chronic diseases can be prevented, treated and/or even cured by each human being making informed, healthy choices.
3. To advocate for the appropriate regulatory environment by new legislation in order to harmonize with the 1994 US Dietary Supplements Health Education Act [DSHEA] and to ensure that our safe, effective, low risk dietary food supplements are not regulated as drugs and/or as a drug subclass.
4. To act as an umbrella coalition organization in order unite all concerned privately owned small and medium family owned manufacturers, distributors, retailers, practitioners, consumers and their respective organizations into a single focused voice to protect our interests against Big Government and Big Business and their allies in “STATISM”.
5. To advocate for the necessary legislative, regulatory and policy changes to create a truly level free market enterprise marketplace that nurtures and supports small and medium family owned enterprises.
6. To advocate for all qualified non-allopathic health professionals in order to ensure that they have the inherent right to practice medicine without censorship, prejudice and / or interference from allopathic medical practitioners and/or their colleagues, regulatory bodies and/or the government and / or others and that non-allopathic health practitioners have the same rights and privileges as allopathic health care professionals.
7. To advocate for the consumers’ rights of informed freedom of choice in health care and equal treatment under all legislation, regulations, policies including taxation, health coverage and the provision of all publicly funded health services.

The NDP calculates that Day is costing Canadians over $400,000 per year.