CUPE and a group of health care advocates have been granted the right to intervene in CanWest-Mediaworks’s attempt to allow direct-to-consumer marketing of pharmaceuticals.
- For more information, see Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising (Canadian Health Coalition)
The corporation, which owns 27 of Canada’s daily and weekly newspapers as well as the Global and CH television networks and eight speciality TV channels wants to be able to run ads for prescription drugs.
CanWest has challenged the CRTC regulations that restrict these ads under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, claiming the ban restricts the corporation’s right to free expression.
The coalition of health care advocates, which includes CUPE, the Canadian Health Coalition and several other unions, will argue that direct-to-consumer drug marketing will drive up the cost of health care and private medical insurance, and will have a particularly harmful impact on women.