Finally, The Tories Endorse Charter-style Health Care

Today was health care day for the Conservatives, as the party announced its plan for the reduction of wait times, promising a "wait-time guarantee", that would set maxiumum allowable wait times for necessary treatment. While this isn't notable--as all parties and most Canadian governments have acknowledged the importance of wait-time reduction--it is significant that Stephen Harper has mentioned that attacking lengthy wait lists is a requirement under the Charter of Rights:

This type of [wait-time] guarantee, Harper said, is "the only way that government can preserve the principles of the Canada Health Act and respect requirements of the Charter of Rights."

This should have been the party's message since the Supreme Court's landmark Chaoulli decision (on which this blog's contributors have commented ad nauseum), in which the Court ruled that Quebec's ban on private health insurance violated the Quebec Charter of Human Rights.

Arguing that excessive wait times (due in large part to government rationing) violate Charter rights allow the Tories to debunk the twin issues that have dogged them in previous campaigns--that they oppose bans on "private" health care (which the Court essentially ruled is unconstitutional), and that they are Charter-sceptics who "oppose judicial activism".

Looks like the Tories have awoken to the promise that defending the Charter in the context of health care has yielded--it forces the Liberals into a position where they must defend the status quo public monopoly (which through its regulatory instruments likely violate the Charter), while in so doing demonstrating that the Grits are not the defenders of the Charter that they have so successfully claimed to be.