Quote of the Day: “The old are not really smarter than the young, in terms of sheer brainpower. It is just that we have already made the kinds of mistakes that the young are about to make, and we have already suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past.” Thomas Sowell
No Editorial today (for the fourth day in a row). Instead, there is an op-ed from Gwynne Dyer who talks about the resignation of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Nothing new in his column that hasn’t been reported over the last few days. Of course, in discussing Ardern, he actually mentions (I guess this is now mandatory for all TorStar columnists…) Donald Trump. Boring…
Two op-eds on healthcare in Canada today on the Opinion and Insight Pages today. One is from Jaime Watt who talks about the recent Ford decision to open up private clinics to perform day surgeries. His take is: “Health care in Canada is at a tipping point and an expanded role for private health care providers, universally covered, has been the logical solution staring us in the face for the better part of a generation. With more people suffering as a result of our overburdened system each passing day, with delays piled on delays as a result of COVID-19, governments can no longer afford to simply afford to simply avoid or ignore this solution.” The other op-ed is from Christopher Holcroft, “a Montreal based writer” according to his bio. He starts off his column by relating two stories about how he had a “life-threatening anaphylactic reaction while on vacation” and how his mother “underwent complex cancer surgery that required significant rehabilitation”. His tells us that “No payment for these services was ever required.”. Of course, he doesn’t mention that the average Canadian family pays about $14,000 per year for medical services out of their taxes, but whatever… I guess in his world, there is a free lunch every day… And of course, he suggests that: “Our bond with medicare must be vigorously protected from the American dark money lobbies seeking to break it for their private gain.” Yup – it’s those nasty Americans that want to profit from our pain and suffering!!! Oh, and about those 600,000 Canadians that need surgeries but are on month (or year) long waiting lists??? Ummm…. “Yet broad acceptance of this [American dark money] and other substantive changes to medicare would require a dramatic weakening of Canadians’ confidence in the health system, a muddying of the facts that have long supported a publicly delivered, universal program, and a corruption of the shared values that form the basis of our country’s commitment to collective care and wellbeing. Such an audacious undertaking is the unique domain of American dark money organizations, the well-documented networks of billionaire ideologues pursuing an extreme libertarian agenda while repudiating norms of advocacy and evading transparency.” I am so happy and thankful that I’m in excellent health. If it ever comes to the point where I have to pay a few dollars to save my life or even to avoid being on the 600,000 waiting list, I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is ideologues pursuing an extreme leftist agenda while repudiating norms of freedom and evading standard laws of economics. Idiot.