Prime Minister Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Photo courtesy Prime Minister of Canada/Facebook.

American-funded dark money groups operating in Canada openly praised Prime Minister Mark Carney last week for not intervening in Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s efforts to undo Medicare.

For the party of the Canada Health Act, elected last year on a mandate of “elbows up” resistance to Donald Trump’s threats to national sovereignty, and facing a referendum on Alberta separation sparked by the conservative premier, it is a shocking development. For progressives of all party stripes, it should be a call to action.

Alberta’s Bill 11 crosses a threshold opponents of Medicare have long sought: the acceptance of two-tier health care. This development has been facilitated by the United Conservative Party’s implementation of “dual practice,” allowing physicians to both operate within the public system and charge patients privately for the same medical services.

A wide coalition of health care advocates, experts, and health care professionals have denounced the change, warning of its threat to access and equitable care and calling on the federal government to intervene. A legal opinion solicited by the Canadian Health Association warned Alberta’s move violates the Canada Health Act.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel recently provided an opaque, non-committal response to these calls. Her statement certainly failed to offer any hints that a vigorous defence of Medicare would soon be forthcoming, arguing instead that the government was taking a “collaborative approach” with........

© Canadian Dimension