Yesterday I took a shot at the headline writer(s) at the Globe and Mail. In the spirit of fair play I should point to John Ibbitson's column in the Globe and Mail today.
...The Liberals obstinately vow to maintain the principles of the Canada Health Act, preposterously claiming that they have a plan to eliminate waiting lists, thus removing the irritant. (They don't and they won't.) Mr. Klein's speech was a blunt warning to Mr. Martin not to try a repeat of the 2004 campaign scaremongering. It won't work, since now the Supreme Court is on Alberta's side.
As Mr. Klein declared yesterday, provincial governments "can neither wait for federal elections, nor can we shut up when they come along. We have to tell the truth." And the truth is, parallel private care is on its way to the Canadian health system. Some provinces are preparing for it; others aren't. The federal government's stand on this new reality is, ultimately, irrelevant.
But Mr. Klein's message to Mr. Harper was hardly less emphatic: It's time to come clean. The Alberta Premier and the Conservative Leader met Sunday to discuss the coming election and the health-care issue.
What is Mr. Harper's stand on the Chaoulli decision? "I think he's sympathetic to the Supreme Court of Canada ruling," Mr. Klein replied.
Oh is he now?
Mr. Harper has dodged this issue, insisting that the Conservative Party supports both the Canada Health Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, even though the court has declared the former is a violation of the latter.
I thought the Conservative position was that they support private delivery as long there is a single-payer. I also thought that was already allowed in the Canada Health Act.
