I could not agree more. They debate nothings while the Titanic sinks. What would make the “leaders” pound the table or be in dispare about if it were left undone ? Line-ups,no family doctor, Taliban victories, a nation of victims, huge tax bills, the closing down of the tar sands ??
The USA has spirited intelligent debate (most of the time) while we wax on about poop and carbon credits. I want someone to demonstrate what they are passionate about coupled with a little humility. That’s what great leaders are made of.

Isn’t it time politicians learned that pouring more money into health care is NOT the answer. Private delivery of public health care would cut of a lot of the fat in the health care system, and remove a self sustaining administration whose main objective seems to be to get more taxpayers money rather than caring for the sick. Of course private delivery while reducing costs and improving services might, horror of horrors, result in someone making a profit! So maybe we should stick with the tried, and tried again, and tried again old way of doing things.

I thought health care was fixed. Didn’t the Liberals spend $42billion to fix health care for 10 years not that long ago?

It is “the Canadian way” to throw more money at problems. It is certainly politically expedient to do so. “Look at all the money we are committing to this! We are doing something!” Yes, you are - spending more money - but is it an investment on which we will get a real return?

Part of our problem is that health care is mostly in provincial jurisdiction, per the constitutional division of federal vs. provincial powers (constitutional experts, please feel free to clarify this), so what we Canadians have is actually 14 fingers in the public health care pie, with most of the fingers pointing at others.

We need change in how the Canadian health care system works (sic). We do not need the American model that the “preservers” of the current system hold up as the only alternative to what we have. We need to get Canadians to take a look at the functional, working models in various European countries. That would help take out any “anti-American” bias that may exist in our country in terms of finding solutions.

Just a piece of my mind
We have allowed too many people into this country who think everything is for free. They know how to abuse the system and take advantage of it. I have asked people who are waiting for a hip operation who their Doctor is? they don’t have one and neither would they pay into the system because it is supposed to be free. There should be a user fee for emergency, but the NDP fight that. I took my mother to the emergency once and I counted 10 people sitting and waiting, when I asked them what was their problem, one had sore throat, a few had been in a car accident - just for observation - all the others were just miner problems which could have been treated at home. These are the things that keep the doctors on the go. Of course these were not first on the nurses list as my mother was accepted immediately. I hate to read about all the complainers in this country - you don’t go to see a Dr. if you have a flu or a cold in the USA I know my sister tells me.

The problem with any public-sector system is that there is no incentive to be efficient. If you overspend your budget this year, the taxpayers will simply cough up a bigger budget next year. As a result, our medicare system is a black hole for money. You can pour as much money as you like into it but it won’t make a scrap of difference.

It would be interesting to take a typical hospital in Canada and compare it with a similar hospital in the US with regard to the fraction of the budget that is spent on administrative, i.e. non-medical, purposes. I suspect that the Canadian non-medical budget would be vastly greater than the corresponding US budget, and that it probably gets the lion’s share of any year-over-year increase.

It would appear that our aim is to have a slightly better system than that which was used in the Soviet Union system.

As soon as you say ‘private health care’ - many Canadians cry that we will become as bad as in the States. They usually have little knowledge of the facts, only what has been implanted by prior LIberal socialist propaganda (our thought police) of which we are still the victum of. I saved my sister from terminal cancer after she was thown out of the health care system - stamped ‘terminal’ - we almost went to the states. Luckily, we were able to win the battle and NO THANKS TO OUR PUBLIC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM & ON OUR OWN DIME! Our health care system is as bad as our freedom of speech - there is none. Canada has been socialized for too long - God help us if the Liberals ever get in again . Our health care system is NOT working - we need private as well - freedom of choice.

I totally agree that we must get some debate on substantive issues in this election campaign and am as frustrated as you. And the most pressing issue is health care which I feel strongly must become a matter of choice, with some delivery by the private sector. We can no longer afford the system we have, nor can we deliver health care in a timely fashion. Keep up the good work.

In every election since public health care was introduced in Canada politicians have tried to outdo each other in promises to make the system better. Guess what? It is getting worse. Don’t hold your breath waiting. Now global warming is the political sexy topic for politicians who are hoping we will forget about those who do not have a family doctor or die waiting for an operation.

Let’s face it. Most real debate is stifled in this country. The leftist do-gooders have picked the fashionable environmentalist rant as their latest crisis and focal point. Behind this they will proceed to continue their never ending quest of social engineering us weak minded needies until eventually the government will be making every decision for us. The leftist movement in this country will not be happy until the rest of us hypnotize ourselves by suckling the federal bosom with the happy entitlement that the liberal left has now entrenched as the Canadian birthright. In the end, all of the environmental legislation that Dion will pass will end up doing nothing for the environment, but will instead result in massive transfers of wealth from western provinces to eastern ones, as well as helping our good friends in China & India (who I am sure are not nearly concerned with ruining their economy as we deep-thinkers are over here in Canada). Sadly, the Conservatives have always been beaten in terms of honest debate because so many topics have been shrouded by the leftist media in Canada and ingrained as sacred cows. It is clear that Health Care reform has been so successfully sacredly cowed; that even its mention will incite Canadians into riotous accusations of treasonous foul which I am sure will soon be fodder for the Human Rights tribunal as spewing hatred. Bilingualism, Equalization System, Judges Legislating from the bench, the Senate, Immigration reform, crime & Justice, MOO…. All we can hope is that the Conservatives can play the leftist game and achieve a majority because the cow needs culling, and average Canadians are hungry for steak.

When the gov’t is invovled in anything, theres’ always some bureaucrats
asking for more administration and more people to process forms. I can’t believe the mess they have made. Our Dr.s can operate more —-they work for the system, then they go private for a few hours. All in the same day. If I ran my business like the health system does i would be out of business. We need to go back to the basics. one page for a birth, not a book and send the mom home and never see her again. etc. etc. We need
less paper work(that nobody looks at). We have an electronic system that works well if anybody will acess it. People can’t even read.
Also the unions have something to do with the mess.
Elaine

Even the so-called “Canadian father of Medicare” did not advocate a State-run medical system. He advocated State run health care insurance for those who could not afford to buy private insurance.

You know I agree with what you say and have found,but,big but,the people i hang with 55 and over do not have a clue that our health care is needing dire fixing.they just seem to think it’s fine,so judging by their naivety and misinformation i’m not sure health Care Reform will get the traction here that it deserves.I thank you all for your efforts to inform and change things.
paula moshonas singer

The NCC is a group of right-wing individuals looking to scrap social services and put it up for sale for large companies. Wouldn’t that be great.