Liberals on Life Support? or Dithers Doctor.

As far as the public/private healthcare debate goes, both sides are being dishonest.

1. Private clinics exist in almost every province. In fact, some of the first appeared in Saskatchewan - from whence Tommy Douglas, the "father of medicare", hailed. That much is old news, and the Conservatives making an issue of it is as stupid as Paul Martin saying a total handgun ban will have any effect on decreasing gun crimes. The group which Paul Martin's doctor is a part of: Medisys, has diagnostic clinics across Canada and I'm glad they do. My doctors (miltary and civilian) have sent me out to private-for-profit clinics for MRI's, X-rays, ultrasounds, bloodwork, etc., at least seven times (that I can recall) since 1998. The tests I have had done at Medisys labs involved wait time of less than a day, on up to four days. The total added cost to me (aside from the monthly provincial healthcare premiums) = $0.00, nada, zilch. The fact is, the public system simply cannot provide all these services in an accessible, cost-efficient model. If public health was burdened with providing most/all of these services there would be a substantial additional cost in taxes and health premiums. The reality is private business' is more adaptable to this model and can provide the equipment, personnel and training, while making a profit on the government fee and billing schedules. I don't see what's wrong with that and, for the CPC MP's to berate Paul Martin or his doctor for it is both dishonest and hypocritical (considering the conservative tradition of being pro-business ). I'd be willing to bet that many CPC members have received medical services at private-run clinics. I'd bet the same for Liberal and even some NDP members.

2. The Liberal's constant portrayals of themselves as "the defenders of medicare" and the CPC as being out to destroy it is equally misleading. It was afterall Mr. Martin, as Minister of Finance, who slashed $9 billion/year from the healthcare transfer made from the federal government to the provinces. This shifted a larger portion of the financial burden (and blame) to the provinces. But because the provinces already bore the majority of healthcare costs, and because the slashed transfers had to be taxed at the provincial level without a corresponding drop in the federal income tax collected, the Liberals were able to spend an extra $9 bil/year (all borne by the taxpayer) without imposing a federal tax increase to generate that revenue. All good for cutting the federal deficit (while Canadian's effectively paid $9 bil/yr more), but what about the provinces and the quality of healthcare. At the time, all of the provinces had deficits and accumulated debts of their own to worry about, and most simply couldn't replace the revenue lost when the transfers were slashed (Alberta being the exception). Healthcare was, and is, a casualty of the federal budget cuts. Ordinary Canadians have ended-up paying higher taxes for a decreased level of medicare services. If that sounds like "defending medicare" to you, then I'll buy a case of whatever you're smoking.

Having read a little on Tommy Douglas, I wonder how he'd view the current situation. He seemed like someone who'd put practical reasoning before blind subservience to ideology. While he would hope for a completely public healthcare system, he might agree that if a public/private combination delivered the widest range of services in an efficient (cost and access) manner, then the latter option would be the way to go.

Instead of getting hung-up on silly private vs public arguments, let's start pressing the candidates on the specifics of how they plan to deliver the quality of healthcare we deserve at a price we can afford.

My use of the article was to support the link between Paul Martin, his doctor, Dr. Sheldon Elman, Medisys Health Group and then to show how Medisys proffited from the Goodale trust leak.
That was the article I used and I wish now I had found another one.