The Liberals released some attack ads quoting Harper as wanting to scrap the Canada Health Act. While he may have been misquoted, there is no question in the past that Harper when president of the National Citizens' Coalition was no fan of the Canada Health Act. Considering health care is a Tory weak spot, they could work, at the same time it might make the Liberals appear desperate. Also if you use the same fear tactics election after election, people tune out after a while. In addition, I believe there needs to be an adult conversation on health care. Very few Canadians support a US style health care system whereby one can be denied treatment due to their inability to pay. However, whether it is publicly or privately delivered as long as it is publicly funded is debatable and does not undermine universal health care. I don't have too strong a preference for either and believe it should be judged on a case by case basis. In fact private delivery of health care is perfectly legal provided it is publicly funded. The other one is allowing a parallel private system whereby the public system is available for everyone but those who wish to leave the system and pay for their treatment in a separate parallel private one is permitted. Although the Canada Health Act does not explicitly prohibit this, many argue such system is not compatible with the Canada Health Act and also many provincial regulations prohibit such system. It should be noted almost every other developed country has a parallel private system including normally more left leaning countries such as Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, and France so hardly a radical idea. At the same time it is not a pancea solution to health care either as the Fraser Institute may argue. Also there are some private clinics where patients can pay for medically necessary services already operating in Canada, especially in BC and Quebec. Whether one favours or opposes such a system, I believe the debate should be civil and should look at the pros and cons, not involve fearmongering. Those opposed to it should stop calling it US style health care and the end of universal health care and likewise those who favour it should stop saying we should adopt it because North Korea and Cuba are the only other countries to prohibit it (which is not entirely true as other countries do have some restrictions on private health care and it is not totally banned in Canada, albeit governments certainly try to severely restrict it). Finally, one can favour scrapping the Canada Health Act simply because they believe health care is a provincial responsibility and should be left up to the provinces. It is important to note that under the constitution, health care is a provincial not federal responsibility. The CHA only sets rules the provinces must follow in order to receive funding; the provinces can ignore them if they are willing to forgo the funding. Likewise considering how important universal health care is to Canadians from coast to coast and that any provincial government who privatized it would have their party annihiliated in the next election, I doubt it would disappear even if Harper did scrap the CHA. Still, politics is about perception not reality, and many do believe health care is a federal responsibility and do believe scrapping the CHA would mean the end of universal health care.
The other issue is the BC NDP talk a sharp turn to the left by choosing left wing ideologue Adrian Dix as their new leader over the more moderate Mike Farnworth. While a lot can happen between now and the next election, I think the NDP's chances with Mike Farnworth would have been much better than with Adrian Dix. Many of those in the centre who are tired of the BC Liberals and looking for an alternative will stick with the BC Liberals. In fact, ironically the BC Liberals choose to move towards the centre with their choice of Christy Clark as opposed to Kevin Falcon who was more right wing. Also many on the right who were planning to vote for the BC Conservatives since they didn't like either the BC Liberals or BC NDP but didn't dislike one more than the other will now probably hold their noses up and vote BC Liberal just to keep the NDP out. Most in BC want a government who can work with both labour and business, not one who is too heavily indebted to one and hostile to the other. And likewise the hardcore ideas Dix advocates are largely ideas of the passed that NDP parties in other provinces, federally, and likewise social democratic parties in other countries have ditched.
Recently many polls have showed the NDP surging in Quebec. Since it has only been a few days, I will wait until the end of the week before updating my predictions as sometimes surges stick and other times they retreat. I will say though that since the NDP support is not concentrated in any region of Quebec, 25% will not result in a whole lot of seats in Quebec. In fact the Liberals could get 15% and the NDP 25% in Quebec yet the Liberals would still win more seats simply because their vote is more concentrated.
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