In 2017, the former Notley government passed Bill 3, the Voluntary Blood Donations Act. This was a preemptive action on the part of the NDP to block a company called Canadian Plasma Resources from setting up shop in Alberta. It was a shallow, ideological, and disasterrous move which ensured that we remained dependent upon buying plasma from American companies that pay their donors. Alberta buys 80 per cent of its plasma from the United States due to the domestic criminalization of paid plasma transactions at home. If the intent of the Notley government was to somehow spur local donors into action and end our dependence on paid plasma purchases, it failed spectacularly..Outcomes have to trump ideology when it comes to medicine, but rarely do so in Canada. We are sending scarce health dollars south of the border on a point of principle; a silly one at that. The NDP blindly opposes any private participation in the health system on any level, and we are all paying the price for it. In fact, the NDP even cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year by refusing to allow private contractors to do the laundry for Alberta Health Services. To the healthcare statists, even the dirty sheets need to be attended to by a bonafide government employee..NDP ideology in healthcare gets a bit flimsy when we get into rights however. Hardly a day passes without an NDP MLA proudly proclaiming, “My body, my choice!”.This principle appears only to abortions, and to nothing else, including our blood..Who are the NDP to tell people what they may choose to do with any part of their body? Whether it is blood, plasma, eggs, or even some organ donations, it should be nobody else’s decision but their own whether or not they want to give those things away or sell them. Canada is chronically low on all of the aforementioned bodily products, and it is senseless to ban voluntary payment for these products if it will make for better health care..UCP MLA Tany Yao is proposing to end this with his private members bill, the Voluntary Blood Donation Repeal Act..The NDP are claiming that if Yao’s bill passes, companies will be able to export Canadian blood products. So what? They will only export if and when they have filled all the Canadian needs first..Opponents to Yao’s bill claim it is a slippery slope that will lead to changing from an unpaid model to a paid model for donors. Good! Some nations have increased donations by up to 700 per cent when switching to paid donation models. If Albertans came out in droves because they were getting paid, and we ended up selling our surplus products to other jurisdictions, what is wrong with that? We filled our own needs, some individuals put a few extra bucks into their pockets, and Alberta has exported a new commodity. Nothing would be sold or exported, that the donor didn’t already agree to sell..Their body, their choice..The hypocrisy from the left on this is breathtaking. While a fetus is declared to be a mere cluster of cells to be disposed at the complete discretion of the mother, blood is so sacred that it is illegal for us to do with as we please..And let’s hope that there is in fact a slippery slope, and that we begin paying donors for the contribution of all sorts of biological products. It makes for better health care and provides a modest income supplement for donors..In my post-secondary years, I had an excess of sperm and a chronic deficit of funds. I am certain that many a young fellow in college could redirect their bodily resources into some cups now and then in order to offset tuition costs. A few bucks from plasma and blood donations wouldn’t hurt either..The NDP is standing on pure ideology in its opposition to Yao’s bill, and shaky ideology at that. Let’s hope the Alberta legislature gets to it before this round of private members’ bills gets cut off..Cory Morgan and a columnist for the Western Standard and a business owner in Priddis, Alberta.
In 2017, the former Notley government passed Bill 3, the Voluntary Blood Donations Act. This was a preemptive action on the part of the NDP to block a company called Canadian Plasma Resources from setting up shop in Alberta. It was a shallow, ideological, and disasterrous move which ensured that we remained dependent upon buying plasma from American companies that pay their donors. Alberta buys 80 per cent of its plasma from the United States due to the domestic criminalization of paid plasma transactions at home. If the intent of the Notley government was to somehow spur local donors into action and end our dependence on paid plasma purchases, it failed spectacularly..Outcomes have to trump ideology when it comes to medicine, but rarely do so in Canada. We are sending scarce health dollars south of the border on a point of principle; a silly one at that. The NDP blindly opposes any private participation in the health system on any level, and we are all paying the price for it. In fact, the NDP even cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year by refusing to allow private contractors to do the laundry for Alberta Health Services. To the healthcare statists, even the dirty sheets need to be attended to by a bonafide government employee..NDP ideology in healthcare gets a bit flimsy when we get into rights however. Hardly a day passes without an NDP MLA proudly proclaiming, “My body, my choice!”.This principle appears only to abortions, and to nothing else, including our blood..Who are the NDP to tell people what they may choose to do with any part of their body? Whether it is blood, plasma, eggs, or even some organ donations, it should be nobody else’s decision but their own whether or not they want to give those things away or sell them. Canada is chronically low on all of the aforementioned bodily products, and it is senseless to ban voluntary payment for these products if it will make for better health care..UCP MLA Tany Yao is proposing to end this with his private members bill, the Voluntary Blood Donation Repeal Act..The NDP are claiming that if Yao’s bill passes, companies will be able to export Canadian blood products. So what? They will only export if and when they have filled all the Canadian needs first..Opponents to Yao’s bill claim it is a slippery slope that will lead to changing from an unpaid model to a paid model for donors. Good! Some nations have increased donations by up to 700 per cent when switching to paid donation models. If Albertans came out in droves because they were getting paid, and we ended up selling our surplus products to other jurisdictions, what is wrong with that? We filled our own needs, some individuals put a few extra bucks into their pockets, and Alberta has exported a new commodity. Nothing would be sold or exported, that the donor didn’t already agree to sell..Their body, their choice..The hypocrisy from the left on this is breathtaking. While a fetus is declared to be a mere cluster of cells to be disposed at the complete discretion of the mother, blood is so sacred that it is illegal for us to do with as we please..And let’s hope that there is in fact a slippery slope, and that we begin paying donors for the contribution of all sorts of biological products. It makes for better health care and provides a modest income supplement for donors..In my post-secondary years, I had an excess of sperm and a chronic deficit of funds. I am certain that many a young fellow in college could redirect their bodily resources into some cups now and then in order to offset tuition costs. A few bucks from plasma and blood donations wouldn’t hurt either..The NDP is standing on pure ideology in its opposition to Yao’s bill, and shaky ideology at that. Let’s hope the Alberta legislature gets to it before this round of private members’ bills gets cut off..Cory Morgan and a columnist for the Western Standard and a business owner in Priddis, Alberta.
