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By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: How do we mend a broken health care system?

Sep 2, 2022 | 6:00 AM

THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM has for years been eroded by lack of care and too many short-term solutions.

We have tried.to put our finger in the dike but we don’t have enough fingers left. We have run out of Band-Aids to stem the bleeding.

As Hillary Clinton said in her book of the same name, we have to make hard choices. And not everyone will be happy. She talked about the need to forge new partnerships to deal with tough issues. And we are at that stage now with health care.

When I think of what needs to be done, the words “unholy alliance” come to mind. One of the meanings of that phrase refers to partnerships between those who are perceived as enemies who get together for the common good.

Mikhail Gorbachev passed away this week. Where would we be now if his alliance with Ronald Reagan had not taken place? This alliance led to one of the most important moves in the last century – a reduction in hostilities that probably prevented a nuclear holocaust.

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How does this apply to solving the health care crisis? In my view, a series of unholy alliances are necessary.

This is seemingly impossible, but what if all the stakeholders came together and put their personal agendas aside to forge these new partnerships? NDP and Liberals, health unions and the government, support workers joining with all these groups, trying to come up with ways to mend the system and make it better. To relieve the massive shortages, to be willing to say “this could work”. Maybe this would lead to new partnerships or even a new labour strategy.

Many will see this as a pipe dream and maybe it is. But we must dream big and have a vision of what COULD be. For that to happen though, we need visionaries who can push things forward.

Not too many of those out there right now to make the hard choices, and prevent the system from decaying further.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.