The issue of healthcare once again rears its ugly head in Canadian politics. This week, health care re-claimed its rightful place as the most important issue in the federal election campaign.

It all began with a bizarre warning from Alberta Premier Ralph Klein that he would announce bold and controversial changes to his province's health system that might challenge the Canada Health Act.

Liberal Leader Paul Martin seized upon the announcement as an opportunity to play tough guy, vowing to "look Mr. Klein in the eye and say 'no'." He challenged Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to do the same, arguing that Harper and Klein are secretly conspiring to undermine Canada's health system.

Martin's comments seem a little out of place for a couple of reasons. First off, health care is a constitutionally-guaranteed provincial jurisdiction. Secondly, having not seen Klein's plan, it seems premature for Martin to guarantee a 'no' response.

As irrational and sensational as Martin's ploy was, it worked like a charm. Harper wore the issue for several days in the national media, and admitted he was eager to get the Klein monkey off his back -- even though there is nothing meaningful in the Conservative platform on health reform.

Klein reversed his decision to announce radical health reforms after the election is decided and called an early news conference to give reporters a sneak preview. Turns out that Ralph's over-hyped health care proposal was nothing at all - just more same old, same old. It included more money for health authorities for operations and infrastructure, and a plan to address health authority deficits.

Alberta is still threatening radical health changes - but not until next year. And we're not holding our breath.

It was a surreal coincidence that on the same day as Klein's non-announcement, the National Post released the results of an Environics poll that shows two-thirds of Canadians support private sector delivery of health services as long as they are publicly financed. Half of the survey respondents went further to say...this is a whopper...that they believe they should have the right to buy private health care to obtain timely access.

After all this bluster, what is being done about our failing health care system that eats up almost half our tax dollars every year Absolutely nothing.

According to the World Health Organization, Canada's health care system ranks 30th, behind countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Morocco. Countries with better health care - like France, Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands - have parallel private health systems which co-exist alongside the public system.
Our politicians are afraid to say it but the Canadian Taxpayers Federation isn't - the health care system needs fixing not just more money. The Canada Health Act is a dinosaur that prohibits change and innovation. People have a right to access quality and timely health services- even if it means turning to private health providers.

It's time for politicians to get their heads out of the sand, stop fear-mongering, stop playing games with peoples' health, and start making changes to our health system. Two-thirds of Canadians agree.