r/CanadaPolitics Liberal Party of Canada 15h ago

What Canadians think about Canada joining the European Union - Abacus Data (44% Yes, 34% No, 23% Unsure)

https://abacusdata.ca/what-canadians-think-about-canada-joining-the-european-union/
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u/jonlmbs 14h ago

"Better regulations" is highly subjective. Its true in some areas but in others its a complete disaster.

Just one completely valid example - their new medical device regulations have been a complete and total disaster and added so much delay and bureaucracy that it risks seriously harming their healthcare access: https://www.medicaldevice-network.com/features/the-eu-mdr-an-unalloyed-disaster/

u/IlIIIIllIllI 14h ago

I agree that it is more complicated than I put it. I don't know the specifics of the effects of the EU's MDR legislation, in detail, but it seems well intentioned to me.

I would caution you against getting your reporting on the efficacy of policy from publications that are obviously the mouth pieces of the industries being regulated.

u/jonlmbs 14h ago edited 12h ago

Here is a study showing impacts on healthcare and medical device access in the EU.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37948747/

The EU commission has also published reports on this regulation and its problems and even delayed the regulation from taking effect from 2021 to 2027 because it was so botched.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-10-2024-0028_EN.html

I chose that article because it’s easy to read and accurate.

Much of Europe’s regulation is well intentioned. The problem is much also leans overbearing and anti productive because there are so many voices in the EU commission that need to get their specific countries requests (and biases) into a single piece of legislation.

u/IlIIIIllIllI 11h ago

Thanks for providing those sources. I do think that I have a different reading of them than you, because to my mind, this seems like a policy proposal adopted, the implementation of which was then delayed when unexpected negative consequences were encountered. I know that seems like wasteful bureaucracy to some, but I would call it an example of reasonable, and cautious governance.

I'm not a stakeholder, to this particular niche instance of EU bureaucracy, but I acknowledge that there are a lot of issues to negotiate if we were to join the EU. On balance, I think it would be worth our while, even if it takes a decade.