Angry in the Great White North

The natural conservative view of health care is that the private sector should be allowed a role to play, even a primary role, in order to find efficiencies in delivery services through competition.

Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party, is saying different, in part because it is such a hot potato in Canadian politics:

"There will be no private, parallel system," Harper said Friday, echoing what Prime Minister Paul Martin told the Commons this spring: "We're not going to have a two-tier health-care system in this country."

Harper promised that a Conservative government would respect the principles of the Canada Health Act, the legal foundation of medicare that Liberals also say they are defending with heart and soul.

A Conservative government would increase the number of doctors and nurses by working with provinces and territories to expand education programs for health professionals. That's exactly what the Liberals say they're doing.

Funny thing is, to find a conservative view of health care, we have to look to the NDP of all places:

Campaigning in Vancouver's Chinatown Sunday, NDP Leader Jack Layton said private clinics are a “fundamental aspect” of the health-care system founded by former Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas and not much can be done about them.

Mr. Layton says he wants to stop tax dollars from boosting the bottom lines of big health-care corporations.

No tax dollars for private corporations? Sounds good to me.

“Our focus is to keep public health-care dollars going to public and non-profit facilities,” Mr. Layton told confused reporters. “What happens with people in the privacy of their own relationship financially, that's up to them.”

Leaving people to make their own decisions of what to do with their own money? Be still my heart.

Needless to say, many NDP supporters are shaking their heads in confusion. Let them. In the mean time, common sense will prevail.