A Dubious Prescription For Health

It's similar to the kind of scheme that former Alberta Social Credit premier Ernest Manning, Preston's father, pushed in the 1960s. And it is straight out of the playbook of the Fraser Institute, which has long had a true hate on for Canadian medicare. Intriguingly, Harris used to advocate user fees — until the 1995 election campaign. Then he ran and governed as a firm supporter of the Canada Health Act. I guess he's changed his mind again. Harris and Manning say Canada should form a security and customs union with the U.S. They promise details later. Essentially, they are talking about a common North American border — the kind of thing that business moguls in Tom D'Aquino's Canadian Council of Chief Executives promote. It would be easy to dismiss this "fresh vision of the future," particularly because it is so stale. But Manning's old Reformers managed to achieve many of their original aims even though they never won power. They did so by encouraging the notoriously practical Liberals to move to the right. In effect, Jean Chrétien and his then-finance minister, Paul Martin, implemented much of the Manning agenda. My guess is that this pamphlet won't help Harper much. If he's seen as a cat's-paw for Mike Harris, Preston Manning and the Fraser Institute, he'll only lose votes. But the Liberals will pay careful attention. Maybe that's what Manning is counting on. He is quite clever. source:http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1113601808961&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907626796