Harper steps up attacks on HIV/AIDS solutions while preaching "unity of purpose"

Vaccine facility mystery deeps by the day
Silence from Quebec ramps up rumour mill

There comes a point, and that point is now, when rumours can be accepted as fact. There is no mystery. Advancing HIV/AIDS awareness, education, prevention, treatment and now hope for a vaccine is not part of the PM's conservative idea of a caring social agenda.

Since becoming Prime Minister, Stephen Harper has tried to shut, by every means possible, the door of Insite, Vancouver's globally lauded safe injection facility for drug addicts in the Downtown Eastside. If successful, and he won't be because the law is against him, the closure of Insite would have negative and devasting implications to the spread of HIV.


Closing Insite would kill Canadians. His government could be threatening many, many more lives worldwide by killing the facility for the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative.

But a review of the record will show Mr. Harper's government has continually challenged the advancement of HIV/AIDS initiatives, from funding to research. Sources close to the Canadian AIDS Society suggest further frustration in trying to obtain direct answers from the government that would clarify the status of the HIV vaccine facility, with no success.

With the government making the situation as clear as mud, I asked the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for comment. Today, a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation global health team replied:

All inquiries related to this initiative should be directed to the Canadian health agency at 613-941-8189.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) isn't commenting beyond a vague "considering its options." This is not a government at work. What options are there to fight an epidemic when you abandon science and research?

Today, it all adds up - the rumours, the statements of disappointment and frustration from the bidders, the Gates Foundation referring comment to the muzzled PHAC, the suggest that awarding the facility anywhere but Quebec would cost Mr. Harper votes, even CAS is no longer assuming the government is dropping the project: the HIV vaccine facility is finished. All bids are off.

The vaccine facility would have allowed vaccine initiatives from around the world to produce small lots for clinical trials to ensure "a safe, effective, affordable and globally accessible HIV vaccine."

Why is Harper so stubborn in his opposition to advancing HIV/AIDS treatment? The answer is the same as it for any decision he recently makes. He doesn't care unless it makes him appear to for the sake of a vote (i.e. relief for Haiti; today's "unity of purpose" speech in Davos, Switzerland), particularly votes in Quebec. He doesn't care about Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, he doesn't care if you aren't a Conservative. The evidence stacks up that he certainly doesn't care about people with HIV/AIDS.

I, and many of you, have learned to expect that Mr. Harper cares little of the opinion and, therefore, the lives of others. I wonder how can he live with himself when he must know that these two unnecessary decisions - the legal fight against Insite and now the end of the vaccine facility - could unnecessarily kill people. Why would somebody do that?

Why would he, three years ago, standing alongside Bill Gates to announce the $139-million facility, say:

The HIV/AIDS initiative will accelerate the pace toward finding a vaccine to fight the virus that causes AIDS, and move possible vaccines to the clinical trial stage more quickly...
HIV/AIDS is one of the most heart-wrenching health crises the world has ever seen... It is one of the greatest scientific challenges of our time. (click here: CTV report on announcement)

Mr. Harper, you are the greatest challenge to my time.

How do you face a scientific challenge when you pull support for science?

Why does he, after days of rumours surrounding the HIV vaccine facility, instruct his government to be silent? That silence stirs an anger in me and anyone who remembers the ACT-UP demonstrations of the 1980s. The iconic equation SILENCE=DEATH that was seared into our memories then has new meaning today.

Does the silence of a prorogued parliament fortell the death of democracy? Had the House been sitting this week as it should have, the government could not have quietly cancelled the HIV vaccine facility process. There would have been debate. The Prime Minister would have been questioned by the opposition for an answer: Why have you gone back on your his personal commitment? Bill Gates stood alongside our Prime Minister as witness to the promise.

Bill gates backed it. Yes, Bill 'bajillionaire' Gates, whose Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation I fully support.

Gates may have answered why Mr. Harper would cancel the HIV vaccine facility when announcing it. As the CBC reported:

Canada will play a major role in the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced... but he denied speculation that his good-news announcement was made in anticipation of a spring election.


Gates sidestepped a question about whether he believed Harper, who didn't attend the 2006 International AIDS Conference in Toronto, was making the announcement in a bid for support from voters.


"I'm glad to hear that putting research money into AIDS makes people politically more popular," Gates said, drawing laughter from those at the news conference.

This is no laughing matter. Not when lives are at stake. Mr. Harper doesn't care about his personal popularity. He wants to legislate Canada's social policy with his conservative morality, but at the cost of lives lost.

Do not be surprised if tomorrow's end of the not-working day at the government of Canada, a statement is issued confirming the HIV vaccine project will not proceed. That's when bad is delivered, when nobody is paying attention.