Something has been bothering me about Jack Layton's rhetoric this week and it is not him trying to negotiate a deal with "the corrupt Liberals". I understand this move. What bothers me is the way he characterizes the deal he is trying to reach on health care.
...stop the rapid growth of private health care, for profit health care, because that's public health care dollars going into the bottom lines of stockholders and CEOs rather than nurses and health care providers.
Are you with me yet? Mr. Layton does not want to improve the delivery of health care to Canadians. He does not speak about wanting the money going to lowering waiting times. He wants the money to go to increased wages for unionized health care workers. Which is where most increases in spending go in a monopolized health care system. Three quarters of health care costs already go to salaries and benefits for health care providers. Increasing this does nothing to decrease waiting times or increase much needed infrastructure like MRI or CT Scan systems.
I am afraid that Jack Layton is just playing to his base on this one.
