Hypocrisy Anyone?

Well, hopefully the paucity of blogging witnessed last week will abate now that Domina and I have returned from British Columbia. Bellator, however, continues his hiatus as he begins the second leg of his vacation by driving down America's Blue Coast (named for the political orientation, not the colour of the Pacific).

In the news, Quebec is seeking a "stay" of the Supreme Court's ruling in Chaoulli, which as most readers are aware, held that the prohibition on private health insurance in Quebec violated that province's Charter of Human Rights and was thus of no force or effect.

According to the CBC,

Quebec said in a brief presented to the top court on Monday that the delay is needed to ensure stability in the supply and organization of health services in the province.

Never mind that permitting persons to purchase private insurance would likely increase the supply of health services available for the public's consumption. Quebec's request is rich, coming from the very province that, more than any other in Canada, has allowed private clinics to flourish alongside those supported by taxpayers.

It's hard to interpret this exercise as anything more than an attempt to score political points for an unpopular government. We can take solace, however, that the court normally grants suspensive declarations (stays) of constitutional violations at the time of its judgment, and not retroactively.

The argument for the declaration would be much more compelling if the ruling was applicable in every province. Strategically, then, the Court might want to give legislatures an opportunity to ensure the constitutionality of their health systems without the chaos that an immediate declaration of these systems' invalidity might cause.

This isn't the case, however, and in the three weeks since the ruling's release, Quebec still appears not to have descended into anarchy, and its much-vaunted "social fabric" still remains intact. Instead of grasping at the now-damaged mythology of Canada's public health care system, provincial governments would be wise to spend their energy reforming their systems by allowing patient choice and greater private sector involvment instead of defiantly and pathetically trying to perpetuate an anachronism.