Mr. Higgs’ remarks to Brunswick News as reported on August 14 is right on the money.  For decades that has been a message echoed by some of the most qualified leaders in the system in New Brunswick.  Indeed, as the system has stumbled since the initial reforms of 1992, the issue of politics in the system has come up over and over and has been a source of major discouragement to many wonderful clinicians and administrators.  When you have trained for anywhere from 4 years to 15 years to become the best you can be, the last thing you want to see is inconsistent direction, over-concern for photo-ops and tactics that respond to symptoms without solving real problems.

Many seasoned observers describe the Canadian health system as the third rail in Canadian politics; that is, the politics of the system is so powerful that governments deal with issues very gingerly.  That was ever so obvious in the 1990’s when the great work initiated by the McKenna government became the target of would-be politicians who wanted to get elected.  Changing the direction of anything in health care is challenging and cannot happen by issuing edicts or policies or election promises.  Once the announcements are made, the hard work begins, work that involves responding to angry people, professionals or the public, showing people a better way when they didn’t know a better way was necessary.