Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams has dashed off to the U.S. for heart surgery procedures not available to other Newfoundland/Labradorians - or presumably anyone else in Canada.
Response from the media and political opposition has been restrained. No mention of the obvious privilege taken by this crass millionaire whose popularity emanates from opportunistic promotion of Newfoundland’s insular ”culture” of isloation and deprivation. While there is no doubt the media is trying to discover it, the location of Williams’ surgery remains a secret. This, along with the lack of criticism for availing himself of health services he has not championed for other Newfoundlanders, has met with unusual silence from the political opposition. The first reason is that heart surgery is serious, and in the case of the worst outcome, disapporval before the fact would still be perceived as criticism of the deceased after the fact. The second is the grovelling to Williams’ unreasonable popularity among Newfoundland voters. As a result comment has been limited to “best wishes”.
Williams is a rich, arrogant bully in a province noteable for having the lowest educational standards in Canada, an incompetent medical system and ineffecient social services. The Premier, who made millions by gouging Newfoundland workers through cable TV rates and other business ventures, maintains his political popularity by milking the provincial insularity. If you visit or, as I did twice, live in the province, you will notice a distinct hostility toward the rest of Canada. Everyone is quick to point out their frustration with the exploitation by the federal government. No specifics are offered, because Newfoundland and Labrador are the greatest beneficiaries of the equalization payment program. Nor are “outsiders” taking jobs from the locals – far more Newfies migrate to find work in other parts of Canada than the opposite. There is no doubt that living in virtual quarantine on a rock is an unpleasant experience. Along with the aforementioned social and economic conditions, there is the barely edible, unhealthy food, miserable weather, obsessive gambling, narrow range of all available goods and isolation.
But Williams has fostered the illusion that all the diprivations are the fault of the rest of the country which enjoys tremendous benefits by ripping off Newfoundland. Williams has created an image of himself that fits perfectly within the cultural mindset – he’s not afraid to stand up to the federal government to defend the impoverished underdogs he represents but is not part of. Grandstanding fights with federal government leaders and cheap gimmicks are the stuff of Williams’ popularity – such as removing the Canadian flags over offshore oil revenues, or his “Anything but Conservatives” campaign.
Williams’ political history ironically includes cuts to schools, health-care facilities in a system that has one of the longest wait times in the country, eliminating public service jobs and breaking campaign promises by imposing back-to-work legislation.
Williams’ supporters have tried to obscure the real issue, which is his lack of confidence in the N/L health care system, by repositioning it as a question of “privacy”. What has privacy got to do with it? Is the fact that Newfoundland health care services are not good enough for him, a privacy matter? The second, and equally inane, claim is that he is doing what anyone else would do under the circumstances. The inherent dishonesty in this claim is that the people who elect Williams are the poorest in the country, and couldn’t afford the choice!
Not only will going to the U.S. for private health care provide ammunition to the opposers of healthcare reform in the U.S., it has brought out the privtization lobby in Canada. Just this morning the CBC reported the clamor by the two-tier lobby for the “right” of the rich to quicker, better quality health care. That is the light in which “Danny Millions” heart surgery should be considered.
