The Council replies: Letters to the editor
Two views on Dr. Day's diagnosis

By Guy Caron
National Post
October 25, 2007
Re: Dr. Day's Diagnosis, Brian Day, Oct. 23.

I've seen or heard a great number of Dr. Brian Day's speeches during the last few years, and his recent op-ed uses the same basic recipe:

- Pounds of union-bashing and unsubstantiated attacks, rather than honest debate on the merits of positions that are different than his.

- A good measure of misleading data -- like bringing forth the World Health Organization's ranking of Canada as the 30th best health system in the world, even as that study's methodology has proven unsound.

- A dash of unproven allegations, such as the "fact" that health services are delivered better, faster and at less cost in the private sector, when evidence shows that it is actually more expensive. The U.K. and New Zealand experiences show that the expansion of for-profit care in a formerly single-payer system leads to increased wait times in the public sector.

Dr. Day is calling for self-serving quick fixes that will do nothing to truly address the various problems faced by our public health care system. Better solutions exist, like those that have been implemented by the Alberta Bone & Joint Institute and the Richmond Hip & Knee Reconstruction Project, that have seen wait times decreases in excess of 75% --all within the non-profit system. If Dr. Day truly wants to put patients first, he would applaud such successful initiatives rather than promote the same failed recipe.

Guy Caron, Health Care Campaigner, Council of Canadians

Visit the Profit is not the Cure website for more information about public health care.