The unexpected public health crisis brought on by COVID-19, is quite fairly dominating the news cycle of the world at the moment. What does this mean for us fighting for more freedom and better outcomes in Canadian healthcare? The Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman once said:
“Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.”
The Canadian Constitution Foundation’s team was reminded of this quote in reading a recent opinion piece in the Financial Post by Gwyn Morgan on our healthcare systems’ response to this crisis. Canadians should always be fighting to do better, and we should be keeping this in mind even in times of crisis.
We depend on the generous support of Canadians to keep the fight for patient rights going. Please consider donating today. The initial trial in BC has ended, but we expect an appeal in BC regardless of the court’s decision and any money given now will help us pay for future legal fees.
