Debating medicare from the left and right

Just as the Toronto Star is well known for its left-leaning, Liberal Party tendencies and the National Post for its unbridled support for the right-wing Canadian Alliance, Web sites also develop distinct political personalities. This is particularly true when it comes to health care issues.

With a federal election fast approaching and health care once again providing one of the dominant themes, there is plenty of policy information available on the Web. However, if you want to view Canadian issues in strictly black-and-white terms, 2 sites stand out.

The Dialogue on Health Reform (www.utoronto.ca/hlthadmn/dhr), run out of the University of Toronto's Department of Health Administration, wears its colours on its sleeve. “We are a group of concerned Canadians who think our country's universal publicly funded health insurance system must be strengthened, not taken apart. Canada's unique, exemplary health care system is being questioned, and so far, very few credible voices have been raised in its defence. We aim to change that.”

On the other side of the debate stands the Fraser Institute (www.fraserinstitute.ca), a Vancouver-based bastion of free enterprise. It lets its feelings be known on its home page with a welcoming statement — “Competitive market solutions for public policy problems” — and an offer to “calculate your personal tax freedom day here.” (In Canada tax-freedom day usually falls around July 1. It is the day when all taxes are considered paid and workers are finally working for themselves rather than the government.)

Neither site pretends to provide balanced coverage. The Fraser Institute rails against waiting lists within the public system, government regulation and prescription drug price controls. Meanwhile, the Dialogue on Health Reform site contains a commentary made during a Friends of Medicare rally in Edmonton, an editorial warning to “Decline Klein's medicine” and a report on the myths and realities of health care financing in Canada.

Both sites are provocative and point to the polarization that will dominate the country's health care debate both before and after the upcoming federal election. And as with most things Canadian, the final answers will probably be found somewhere in the middle. —

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