Fever pitch

According to Pierre Poilievre, it feels like everything is broken in this country right now. And it’s apparently all one man’s fault: Justin Trudeau. Do you need proof?

Try finding Tylenol and other similar drugs at your local pharmacy. It’s out of stock and hospitals can’t get enough to care for patients, many of them children. That’s enough for outfits such as Canada Proud to post a quote from an article in the Toronto Star next to the picture of Justin Trudeau: “Canada’s shortage of children’s Tylenol and other pain and fever medications for kids is getting worse - and one of the factors contributing to the crisis appears to be the requirement for bilingual labels.” It highlights “getting worse” and “bilingual labels” for effect and clicks.

Zero need for bilingual labels in Canada

This prompted outrage on social media: “Zero need for bilingual labels in Canada. Such a waste of money. Petty things the Government wastes time on” wrote one. “Canada is English. We don’t need French on labels” wrote another. And, as expected, some see a conspiracy: “There’s no shortage, they’re doing it with purpose, to get children vaxxed and boosted”. It prompted former Dragon’s Den Brett Wilson, who’s not known to hold back on social media, to tweet “Punt the bilingual labels for a year”.

What’s really going on? Suppliers, pharmacy distributors, and pharmacists should know.

According to Hughes Mousseau, director of the Quebec Association of Pharmacy Distributors, the shortage is not due to a global lack of ingredients to create the drugs. Instead, an increase in viral activity caused by an extended viral season has doubled the usual demand for children’s Tylenol causing shortages dating back to July. Health experts believe the dropping of mandatory masking in classrooms and public transportation also contributed to the increase in infection.

Production of these drugs was also reduced during the pandemic because children were at home instead of school and taking the necessary precautions against viral infections. Suppliers are now doubling their production but, like toilet paper during the pandemic, people are stocking up leaving empty shelves.

But who wants to get down to the nitty-gritty of supply chain management issues when we can blame Canada’s official bilingualism instead?

Again, let’s look at the facts. Canada is importing pain and fever medication from the U.S. and Australia to supply hospitals. According to Mousseau, bilingual packaging is not the issue. Manufacturers can quickly source bilingual labels when needed. In fact, that was the case during the pandemic when eye drops and an asthma medication were imported from Spain. Pharmacists simply applied labels with the ingredients and usage in French.

Bertrand Bolduc, the President of l’Ordre des pharmaciens du Québec, told La Presse that “When this happens, the pharmacists are informed and prepare labels in French which they affix to the products.” He added “The Star says it's because of the bilingual packaging that we're out of stock. This is completely false and ridiculous. It's a stupid comment."

For his part, Benoit Morin, President of l’Association québécoises des pharmaciens propriétaires - which represents pharmacy owners in Québec, was surprised by the article and asked if the newspaper “was looking for a scandal where there is none.”

By stating that “bilingual labels are part of the problem”, the Star’s headline writers triggered outrage on social media in English Canada, and led to a column in La Presse titled “Anglophone media blames French for the shortage”. Now, there’s plenty of blame to go around in English and French Canada: Trudeau, Health Canada, French, and the Toronto Star.

It’s ridiculous, but it’s where we are. A skewed headline, distorted and amplified by social media, morphed into an issue about official bilingualism and government waste in a country where everything is apparently broken.

This will pass as soon as the fever breaks. But anyone looking at the circus south of the border should be concerned that Canada is not immune to what ails our neighbours.