Ask your Doctor

Next weekend the Canadian Medical Association meets in Charlottetown to select its new President. The CMA represents 60,000 doctors and is pretty much the only health care lobby federal and provincial governments listen to, despite the fact that Canada's health care system involves millions of nurses, health care technicians, physical and occupational therapists, administrators, support workers, unionized residents, medical students, and that troublesome group nobody ever listens to called patients.

Brian Day is the British Columbia Medical Association's nominee for the CMA Presidency. Brian Day sees nothing wrong with private, for-profit health care. Brian Day likes to compare Canada's universal public health care system with totalitarian regimes like North Korea and the former Soviet Union. Brian Day wants to perform the same kind of surgery on Medicare that Stepehen Harper is performing on Childcare.

Fortunately, someone from the usually closed CMA ranks is offering a much-needed Second Opinion and will challenge Day on the Convention floor. Dr. Jack Burak is a former BCMA President who challenged Day for the BC nomination in April, but fell short. Of course Gordon Campbell took Day on a high profile mission to "investigate" European health care systems, and softpedalled the moratorium on private clinics by letting them set up shop in hospital "Ambulatory Care Centres" like the one coming to VGH this fall. The Brian Days of the world hate public health care, but they sure love public money to bankroll private health care.

Day is crying foul over Burak's challenge, claiming that it's "undemocratic". Apparently, it's democratic that Day gets to be President just because it's British Columbia's turn to pick the President. Day says that Burak losing at the BCMA then trying to come back and win over the 300 delegates in Charlottetown is "disrespectful of the democratic process", like something in North Korea or Cuba. For the record Dr. Day: Democracy happens when people exercise their rights, not when they shut up and follow along in whatever direction they're being bullied. If Day insists on an analogy, maybe he should use Connecticut instead.

This page has homework for anyone who clicked in here today: Book an appointment to see your doctor. Ask your doctor who they're supporting for the CMA Presidency, and ask them why. There's no time like now to remind doctors that in a real democracy, the majority should prevail, and that majority is a Canadian public that needs a Canadian Public Health Care System.