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 In the past week or so, as we have all observed the health care pronouncements of Alberta's Don Mazankowsi, or Ontario's Ernie Eves, we have been reminded that Canada's right wing governments face the dilemma of Sisyphus. In Greek mythology, of course, Sisyphus was a king who had offended Zeus. His punishment was to roll an enormous boulder to the top of a hill. Whenever the boulder reached the hilltop, gravity would dictate that it tumble downward. And poor Sisyphus would, again, be obliged to push the rock up another incline. Canada's right wing governments (represented, lately, by Messrs. Mazankowski and Eves) are rather like that. One suspects that, deep within their parsimonious souls, conservative politicians Ontario and Alberta legislatures would very much like to gut Medicare - to push it out of the way, in effect. But, being politicians, they are aware that, in saying so, they are simultaneously consigning their conservative-minded governments to electoral oblivion. And so the Sisyphean Medicare linguistic charade continues. Typically, it involves right wing politicians ruminating aloud about the need for reform and frank debate, and insisting that the health care system is no longer sustainable. But precious little ever gets done, because conservatives fear the wrath of Canadian voters. And so they prevaricate and obfuscate. They use weasel words, crafted to obscure their true intent. Mazankowski, for example, is the author of a 72-page report commissioned by Alberta's Medicare-loathing government, titled - naturally - A Framework for Reform. Eves, meanwhile, is the principal candidate to succeed Mike Harris as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, who a few days ago called the Canada Health Act a "thing" that "prevents people from paying for services if they want to." Asked if this meant he favoured calling such a system two tier - one for the poor, one for the rich - Eves generously allowed that "you can call it whatever you want." Mazankowski, a former federal Conservative minister who seems to have received a more generous helping of wits than his ideological brother Eves, was more cautious. His report, which was preceded by a $1 million propaganda campaign, was authored by the twelve members of Premier Ralph Klein's Advisory Council on Health, and it is filled to the brim with the slippery code words and slick phrasings we have come to expect of conservatives. (And, to apparently ensure he obtained the result the Premier most desired, Mazankowski's council did not consult ordinary Albertans, the ones who actually pay for and use the health care system.) The report demands that "we need to explore new ways of paying for [Medicare]" - without actually employing touchy words like "delisting services," or "user fees," or "privatizing health." It states that "we can't regulate to perfection" - as if anybody, anywhere, has ever insisted that we can and should. It states that it is time to "take the shackles off" - likening Canada's health care system to a prisoner of public funding, awaiting liberation by some accommodating health multinational. In classic bit of setting up a straw man to knock down, Mazankowski's report goes on to state that "the system was never designed to cover all aspects of health services, but people have come to expect that it will - and at no cost to individuals." Is that so? "People" have come to "expect" that, have they? When, precisely, was every breathing Albertan consulted - and where is the resulting study showing, as Mazankowski claims, that all Albertans favour the addition of liposuction and breast enhancement to insurable medical services? In the Edmonton press conference held to trumpet the release of his report, Mazankowski sat side-by-side with a grinning Premier Klein. More than once, the former Deputy Prime Minister to Brian Mulroney declared that an "innovative blend" of public and private health care "should be encouraged." Fine. But what does that mean, exactly? Our health care system has always included a significant amount of private participation - in some cases an estimated 40 per cent. As federal Health Minister Allan Rock privately queried, do Mazankowsi and Klein favour increasing the privatized component? Decreasing it? They wouldn't say. Meanwhile, Ontario's former Finance Minister, Ernie Eves, was considerably less adroit with his language - at least initially. In a speech to party faithful in Barrie, Eves claimed that pets can speedily receive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for a fee, but people can't. Snapped Eves: "Does that make any sense to you? It sure doesn't make any sense to mewhy can't we do it?" His opponents in the Tory leadership race immediately piled on, and Eves thereupon beat an indelicate retreat. It was all a big misunderstanding, he proclaimed the next day. "We want an accessible health-care system, that's accessible to all Canadians from coast to coast, that should be our objective and our goal," Eves insisted, denying that his flip flop was in fact a flip flop. Canada's conservatives should summon the courage of their convictions. If they want to gut Medicare (and, mostly, they do), they should say so, and let the voters pass judgment. If they want reform, then they should say what, precisely, their reform means. And, when they do, count on the Sisyphean rock to continue to roll - right over them.
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