Can the ghost of Tommy Douglas persuade Adrian Dix to offer a lifeline to cystic fibrosis patients?

Within the New Democratic Party, Tommy Douglas is perhaps the closest thing to a saint.

The former Baptist minister led the first social democratic government in North America, serving as premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961.

He created the first publicly owned auto insurer, a public electrical utility, and offered free hospital service to Saskatchewan residents.

Not so long ago, HIV/AIDS was also the equivalent of a death sentence. Anyone over the age of 45 can recall seeing live and/or televised images of these patients wasting away, suffering from dementia, coughing chronically, and enduring blistering pink, red, and brown blotches on their faces.

But some amazing work at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, led by Dr. Julio Montaner, has helped convert this medical horror into a manageable, lifelong chronic disease through a combination of drugs.

These medications are covered under the provincial drug plan. All British Columbians can take pride in this achievement.

It was another gift from Canada to the world as the B.C. approach has since been copied in many countries, including China.

It’s not cheap to provide these medications, but these costs have been partially or possibly completely offset by far lower expenses caused by repeated hospitalizations, premature death, and the loss of these people’s potential to contribute to society.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below