Tommy Douglas: Not Two Tier Enough

Danny Whine for Wine Williams is a weasel

Would that all MPs and/or provincial politicians and Premiers use their wealth to leverage for-pay health care. This will only strengthen the case argument in favour of allowing a private health-insured/paid system.

Better get down there before Obama care takes effect or the service won't any better than the slop you have to wait and wait for here in the great social democracy.

I do not think that it should be a Criminal Code offense for any sitting
member of parliament or provincial MLA to leave Canada for medical
treatment, unless it is also a Criminal Code offense for any Canadian to
leave Canada for medical treatment. I think that MPs and MLAs should
be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less.

Out of province medical treatment is how the sheep herders at CTV are reporting it.

I would definitely leave for treatment.

the difference is I preach for it , not agin it.

the time has come to treat our medicare as a business too. maybe Americans would pay to come up here instead of heading to India.

Danny Whiner, PMPM and Jack Layton are just the usual ,do as I say not do as I do, elitist politicians

hypocrite

letting the lieberals and dippers down one step at a time , slow and easy.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100201/williams_hospital_100201/20100201?hub=TopStoriesV2

undisclosed location BS

will have to see if Rex Murphy comments tonight.

Vitruvius, until they're forced to walk the talk they force the rest of us into, the sonsabitches should be prepared to die for Saint Tommy, or open the system the hell up.

Well said, Kate! What a hyprocite and liar that Williams is. What are the odds he went to the US?

CBCpravda has already reported he went stateside.

CTVtass is just slowing the anger.

I had a quadruple bypass last July and had the best care that you could ever ask or wish for, bar none. The quality and expertise of the staff at the Victoria Jubilee was beyond compare.

As far as Williams is concerned maybe it was his condition, maybe it was the expertise of the available surgeons, who knows? My guess is the slimy bastard couldn’t trust anyone and had to go somewhere else.

Um, they are not forcing us to not leave Canada for medical treatment. If they were, then I would agree with the notion that they should not be allowed to do that either. But I don't think that it is healthy to have a democracy where the elected are treated differently than the electorate. That is the basis of unjustified privilege: it is not the lack thereof that is the problem. In other words, I don't think they should be treated specially. Apparently some do. Nevertheless, I think that it is always a mistake to let populist demagoguery erode the undergirding structures of democracy, which require that we all be treated equally in the eyes of the law, including the elected.

And where is someone like him going to go _if_ America adopts their own version of the Canada Health Act?

I expect a more vigorous defense of their 10th amendment from the several States than our Provincial leaders have given Canadas Section 92, they can look north for the proof of the intrusive nature of a health care scheme as a cover for centralizing and growing government, and putting life and death decisions in the hands of bureaucrats.

Health care is not a human right, but only a side effect of advanced civilization, to be purchased for a price.

The problem is Mr. Williams et al failure to defend the Provinces right to eject the Federal government from any aspect of health care, except for Marine Hospitals. I am for repealing the entire HCA and firing 10,000 federal bureaucrats intruding on a Provincial responsibility.

Jean Cruton used an Air Force jet to get to the front of the line while Belinduh used a private jet.

Look up hypocrite in the dictionary and the entry says

LIBERAL PARTY of CANDA.

Lying, cheating skanks

actually Danny Whiner is officially a Progressive Conservative . but one of those dinosaurs that was left over after the merger of the Alliance and the old progressive conservatives which were lieberals in disguise , aka Joe Clark.

Kate, who was the would-be destroyer of medicare that Dirty Dan was referring to in the video?

I just wonder if Harper would receive the same gentle coverage by the MSM...

I don't know which is worse, going Stateside, or jumping the queue. A couple of Canadian politicians have done some obvious line jumping. Peter Lougheed comes to mind. At least going out of country doesn't affect a Canadian, who's waiting for a procedure.

I guess that's not really the theme of the post, though, is it?

If Newfoundlanders reelect this bozo in their next provinvial election, they will lose every ounce of my respect.

Vitruvius:

I think that MPs and MLAs should
be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less.

Wrong on so many levels. They make the rules that we have to live by, so they get to tell us what to do. We don't have the same power over them. (And don't tell me that we have the ballot box; with our fractured body politic, nothing ever changes.)

And if you believe that most Canadian politicians wait in line for health care like the rest of us, you must have ingested a great deal of BC's biggest cash crop. As I've written here many times, the biggest problem with Canadian health care is that the connected get the best of both worlds - privileged access to the system that doesn't cost them anything.

And since MP's have gold-plated pension plans that they qualify for in only six years and can get at age 55 (try that with the CPP), it's pretty obvious they don't treat themselves like "ordinary Canadians".

So I agree with Kate - if they're going to hamstring health care for most of us, while enjoying privileged access themselves, and restrict us to a CPP that barely gets one above the poverty line, while paying themselves pensions that are well above the average annual income, there should be a few restrictions on their behaviour. Most of us can't have it both ways; they do, and I'm sick of it.

Vitruvius: I don't think populism is the issue here. Just the opposite, in fact.

Western Canadian: "maybe it was his condition, maybe it was the expertise of the available surgeons"

Strange that in a country of 30 million people, a country that is one of the richest in the world, that we should lack medical expertise.

I disagree, KevinB. I think all their unearned privileges should
be removed. Adding more regulations doesn't make it better.

Quis custodiet ipso custodes?

Vitruvius has it right. Elected officials should not be treated any different than the general public.

I think the anger directed at the elected hypocrites that praise health services in Canada, then go elsewhere for treatment, should be directed at the moronic public that continues to elect them.

Pot ... meet kettle.

Although I suspect the ulterior motive isn't quality of care, it's the time waiting for that care.

We should all be able to decide how to spend our money, even if it is on health care for us.

I hope more do this. It shows up the system for what it is. Instead of money being the factor for first rate treatment. Its now if your a politician or sports figure or some other elite. Just like Congress wanted for themselves. While leaving the crumbs for the "Little guy".
Any person in this Country ought to be able to pay for the system they want. I have no problem with clinics opening up with no government money but profit by paying customers. Line ups would begin to melt away as people who can afford it would go to them to get out of the line ups.
Plus you still have a public option.
JMO

If Newfoundlanders reelect this bozo in their next provinvial election, they will lose every ounce of my respect. Might as well cut your wrists now SF.Theres no fish,no jobs,no one over 18 stays & soon no seal hunt.But say Danny Millions in a derogatory tone to one of my Newfie friends & be prepared to experience political discussion as a blood sport.The man owns N/L.

I think all their unearned privileges should
be removed.

But that's the problem - they deny having unearned privileges; they actually think that they have earned them.

Doesn't anyone remember David Dingwall and "I'm entitled to my entitlements"?

If Williams was one of those virtuous tools who defended our health care sytem, he is now the worst kind of hypocrite. If he didn't agree with the sytem, but said nothing against it, then he's a coward. There's also the possibility that he's a cowardly hypocrite...or should that be a hypocritical coward?

As much as Danny Williams is a jackass of the first water, I think we might be a little premature here. He may well be going to Dalhousie or someplace else here in Canada, nothing wrong with that.

I was in the Children's hospital here in Edm the other day, and on one ward, I think half the kids were from Saskatchewan. How is that wrong, or any different from, Williams going to a centre in another province with critical mass for excellence in a given area?

Turtle 9:36 When you see an interesting story on Tass, you should double check it with Pravda.

Newfoundlander's political acumen on display every time they vote for Danny.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/02/01/nl-williams-heart-201.html

CBCpravda has already moved it from the top headlines. but they say USA , and who better to know.

I love the old line in a cowboy movie when someone says "Well shut my mouth"!

Ya, Danny - Shut your stupid mouth already.

I do not think that it should be a Criminal Code offense for any sitting
member of parliament or provincial MLA to leave Canada for medical
treatment, unless it is also a Criminal Code offense for any Canadian to
leave Canada for medical treatment. I think that MPs and MLAs should
be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less.

I disagree. To begin with, the comment was satire, what Kate really wants is better health care and better polititicians. Second, we have politicians blocking health reform in Canada purely on the basis of votes and entitlements dashing off to the US every time they have some serious health issue to deal with. Our health is a political football, their health is IMPORTANT.

Fine, so then behead them, Robespierre.
Abuse the Criminal Code politically.
Or respect equality before the law.
It's our choice ~ one vote each.

People should have every right to seek whatever treatment they see fit.
I hope Mr. Williams is listening because that applies to the people in the province he claims to love so dearly and have been screwed over (RE: cancer tests).

danny williams. didn't he do the hockey commentary?

what a bloody hypocrite. maybe the surgery will be botched via some set of improbable circumstances.

The fact we can't escape to some treatment 5 minutes down the road is most horrid.

Would be nice for a story like this to be plastered on every newspaper and t.v. set.

I do not think that it should be a Criminal Code offense for any sitting
member of parliament or provincial MLA to leave Canada for medical
treatment, unless it is also a Criminal Code offense for any Canadian to
leave Canada for medical treatment. I think that MPs and MLAs should
be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less.

So, Vit - you sweet talking guy - I just want to focus on the last of the sentences you've written. "I think that MPs and MLAs should be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less."

Should all Canadians be entitled to awesome pensions after SIX years of service? Should all Canadians have their medical and dental paid forever after serving six years with an employer?

Sweet talking Vit - get off your high horse and begin to realize that the people we are talking about here are the ones who get up in front of huge crowds and spout incredible lies about what they will and will not do - what they believe in- what they don't believe in so they can be elected.

Once there - they, by their actions, show what absolute liars they are.

Having said all that - I believe that he or she who lives by the sword should die by it. In other words - let they who say they live by Canada's Medicare - die by it. Williams said he lives by it. Let him live or die by it. That - or he is a liar and a phony.

Of course he is a liar and a phony. And so for that
you want to corrupt the Criminal Code? Bad move.

http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2005/2005scc35/2005scc35.html

Chaoulli v. Quebec (Attorney General), [2005] 1 S.C.R. 791, 2005 SCC 35

The Supreme's addressed this concern back when the Liberals were in charge of the HCA.

Here is the skinny version per our Chief Justice:

"Per McLachlin C.J. and Major and Bastarache JJ.: The conclusion of Deschamps J. that the prohibition on private health insurance violates s. 1 of the Quebec Charter and is not justifiable under s. 9.1 is agreed with. The prohibition also violates s. 7 of the Canadian Charter and is not justifiable under s. 1. [102]"

Long and short the government can't prohibit private health care in the face of a growing onslaught of waiting lists for medical services...

Bad government, bad government...swat with rolled up Charter...

Cheers

Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief

1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North"

Vit - re-read my post. No mention of the Criminal Code. My issue with you was the last sentence of your post. I'd appreciate it if you would respect my post by dealing with your last sentence.

"I think that MPs and MLAs should
be treated the same as all other Canadian citizens, no more, no less."

ABC, Anywhere But Canada.

ABC, America's Better Cardiologists?

The ninth, tenth, and eleventh words of Kate's original post, "Criminal Code offense", are what I have been arguing against, Bob. By all means do go ahead and vote them out of office, if you like. Just don't bring the criminal code into the matter of political lying. That's never worked before: it won't work now; attempts to force it will just corrupt the criminal code. And so I have made my point, and I do not wish to invoke the wrath of the chatting offense, and therefore I shall leave it at that. Good night everyone, thanks for the space Kate ~ best wishes to all.

Vitruvius

Your argument that it's okay for Williams to go to the States because he is entitled to the same options as other Canadians is specious.

To go to the States and have heart surgery can easily cost 6 figures therefore removing that as an option for 80 to 90 percent of Canadians who can't come close to paying for that.

Williams should have no more options than 80-90 percent of Canadians do.

Vit's kind of getting dogpiled here, but I have to say I agree with him. Strip the MPs and MLAs of their unearned luxuries, and let the law of the land apply to every Canadian. The whole point of the Rule of Law is that it applies to everyone without concern for creed, colour or class, and that includes political class.

Vitruvius; I think you are entitled to your opinions as are the others who are taking exception. However your response to the first comment that takes exception shows what I am feeling is "slightly" superior air to the "unwashed" who occasionally visit here. I normally leave the blogs which start to have airs about how "we'uns' do not really understand. However I recognize this is really not your blog and although you probably expend a lot of time here you are in reality a hitch hiker. Cheers

[Actually, Mike, I am the resident SDA Late Nite Radio DJ ~ Vitruvius]

Kate didn't try to enlighten me on the identity of the politician (it must have been a politician) that Williams is bad-mouthing on the video. Does anybody know the answer?