Jeffrey Simpson's use of the canary in the coal mine as a metaphor for an increased role of the private sector in the health-care system is appropriate (Canadians Are Warming To Private Health-Care Delivery -- Feb. 21). The deeper the mines got, the greater the ventilation problems became, and more canaries (and miners) died. Experience at home and abroad shows that the greater the private-sector penetration in the delivery and financing of health care, the greater the financial and human costs.
A key message from the Romanow commission was that our public health-care system is as sustainable as we want it to be. Politicians cannot talk about the system's sustainability and promise tax cuts at the same time. Thank goodness we Canadians know that our health depends on the fact that we can't always have our cake and eat it, too.
