I like Adrienne Clarkson, but.....

Why is it that Adrienne Clarkson received her pacemaker the day after it was decided she required one?

We in British Columbia have heard, ad nauseum, about the twelve-year-old boy whose life-saving surgery was recently postponed due to a nursing shortage. Every Canadian seems to know a person (or ten) who is on a two year wait list to see a surgeon, or has had his/her surgery postponed or cancelled. Why does Ms Clarkson have surgery the day after her diagnosis? She was not in danger of dying without immediate surgery, so it was not an emergency.

This is, of course, a rhetorical question, we all know why Adrienne Clarkson got bumped to the top of the list.

It must be as galling as hell to the retired farmer in Manitoba or the grocer in Newfoundland, or the landscaper in Quebec who have been waiting for months and years for surgeries that will enhance the quality and/or lengths of their lives. Ms Clarkson could have easily afforded treatment in a private facility, but bumped another citizen in a public hospital.

The next time a Canadian hears there is a lack of funding for essential health services, but we should not be reduced to a two tier system, it would be well remembered that the two tier system is already alive and well here.

Just ask Madame Clarkson.