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Oh Canada! It's about health care, stupid! Whether you were a victim of tainted blood back in the '80's or can't get a needed though optional operation done, you are screaming about health care if you are Canadian. Election time is payback time for the political parties just as it is in any democratic country. Voters have very good memories.
Health Care In Crisis
Now let me tell you right up front that this
Canadian has not lived in Canada since 1970. Like many of my countrymen I
married an American and moved south. But I have always followed current affairs
in Canada with a keen interest. Family get-togethers are spent debating the
relative merits of both political systems. Invariably health care enters the
discussion and that's where things really get ugly. You see, I have always felt
that Canada was on the right track. "How could the richest country in the
world not have universal health care," I kept wondering, "and Canada
has had it since 1980." My sister-in-law, who is a doctor, has decidedly
different views. The long waits for elective surgery frequently send Canadians
across the border to have procedures done in American hospitals at great
expense. Now that's a shame!
Education
What about education, eh? I searched fruitlessly
through party platform after party platform, scanned the issues, and nowhere
does education pop up on my radar as a pressing issue. Education was a major
issue in the 2000 American election and will probably be so for years to come. Is
the Canadian education system really in that good shape?
The neat thing about Canadian general elections is that the campaigns are mercifully short - usually no more than six weeks long. Can you just imagine how American pols would do with a six week campaign? Heck, trying to figure out who is the winner of the recent American election looks like it will take more than six weeks! Canadian political campaigns tend to be rather more dignified than the American ones. (I gather that this one, however, has gotten a wee bit nasty!) To paraphrase Charles DeGaulle: "Vive le Canada libre!"
For in depth coverage of the campaigns, the issues and the results go to Get Ready To Vote.
Before you leave be sure to share your take on the Canadian political scene with a post in the Forum.
--Rob Kennedy, Private Schools Guide
