Pundits on all sides of the debate about health-care reform in Ontario tend to speak in absolutes. The system is broken and we will fix it, says Doug Ford. The government plans to privatize large chunks of the system and that’s absolutely wrong says NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. Health-care unions warn of absolute disaster. Health Minister Christine Elliott is on the record promising, absolutely, that no “Ontarians will fall through the cracks” of the reformed system.
Why this absolutism, this refusal to acknowledge shades of grey? It’s because the discussion and debate has become so politicized, there’s no room for anything other than black or white.