Government Protects the Profits of Oil Companies, Sobeys and Loblaws while attacking Rural Independent Pharmacies

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador provides income assistance to those most vulnerable in our society.

The monies given to these individuals or families are to meet the daily necessities of life.

They include electricity, heating oil, food, and medications.

In the case of electricity the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not seeking to lower rates for consumers by asking Fortis to reduce its profits. Fortis is regulated by the public utilities board and that body regulates the rates for consumers. When Fortis wants to increase rates it can as a business appear before the PUB and ask for an increase based on the cost of doing business and a rate of return or profit.

In the case of food the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not seeking to reduce the price of food - despite the need of many families to achieve a balanced diet on insufficient funds. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not demanding that Sobeys and Dominion lower prices for the public - particularly the most financially challenged so that consumers can get the same cost for food in Newfoundland and Labrador as the consumer can get in other provinces. The government is not asking Sobeys or Dominion to reduce their rebates by lowering the price of food.

In the case of oil and gas the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is not seeking to lower the price of these heating essentials despite the astronomical profits of these oil companies.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is going after local independent rural and inner-city pharmacies. They are going after Newfoundland and Labrador businesses - while walking very carefully around retail and commodity giants.

The Minister of Finance, Tom Marshall announced proudly how government and taxpayers are subsidizing heating bills for those most vulnerable. Yes that should be done - but who should be taking the hit - the taxpayers or the oil companies? Why doesn't the government demand that oil companies lower the price to equal every other province in Canada? Why should Newfoundlanders and Labradorians pay more? Well if the same Minister would have you believe that we should be paying the same as any other province in Canada for prescription drugs - then certainly the same should be true for all essentials of life that the more vulnerable in our society have to pay for.

Supermarkets receive rebates for the products they stock and the shelf space they are on. This should now be stopped - and all the value of those rebates should be used to lower prices. In this way all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can pay the same price for food here as any other province in Canada.

Then there are Cable TV, Telephone, and Internet services. Why should anybody in Newfoundland and Labrador have to pay anything more for these essential services - than anywhere else in Canada?

Now the real kicker, the government is going after the only thing that is going DOWN in price - generic drugs. Yes that is true - over the past five years they have gone down between 15 to 20 per cent. They will go down even further through the natural competition between generic drug companies.

Further - pharmacies have taken significant decreases already to their revenue stream. Several years ago a thirty day supply was the maximum volume of prescription which could be filled. That changed to a ninety day supply - meaning the pharmacy was losing two-thirds of its revenue stream from its dispensing fee. People saved significantly on their costs as did government (or so they thought). That policy was enacted to satisfy chain drugstores and their insatiable need to wipe out competition.

The truth is the economics have not been completed on this and what many private insurers as well as the government are seeing is that significant dollars may have been lost in this exercise. A very good example - as I am sure many readers can relate to - is getting a first time prescription for a new chronic illness. As you are released from hospital and given a 90 day supply - chances are your prescription may have to be changed several times during that period. So the government or the insurance companies will have avoided three seven dollar dispensing fees but they will have thrown away 500 dollar's worth of drugs.

The CICPO has made recommendations to government to deal with this issue. We have suggested that the expenses be studied so the taxpayer, those with private insurance, and cash paying customers may save significant dollars by adopting a different approach. The government ignored that; yet they say government is looking to save money.

More to come!