Albertans Deserve Courageous Leadership

Napoleon Bonaparte once referred to England as a "nation of shopkeepers." He meant it as a grievous insult, considering himself and his own nation as artistic and cultured.

Napoleon fits well in the highbrowed tradition of putting down business and commerce as activities, and those who work in them. So do some Albertans.

As the leadership for the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party unfolds, the lack of good policy ideas on health care has been notorious. It is indicative of the impasse that we have reached in Canada over what essentially has become a sacred cow.

Health care has become an inalterable icon, but it must not remain so. This is a time when our leaders should be the most innovative and inventive as we face impending demographic and fiscal crises.

As if the compounded effect of such crises on health care was not enough, we also face an acute problem of political sclerosis. This acute illness is manifested in the inflexible attitude that health care, such as it is, must not ch…