Premier leaves country for surgery

In what is shaping up to be a volatile debate on Canadian health care, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is reported to have left Canada on Monday to have a heart operation in the United States.

Details are few and far between and the National Post, the Globe and Mail and the CBC have all been reporting on the issue.

Allegations that Williams went to the United States because of long wait lists in Canada appear to ring hollow as several prominent Canadian cardiac surgeons have opined on the issue saying that Williams could have easily had his surgery in Canada.

Without knowing the exact nature of the operation (it could easily be a bypass surgery or a more complex procedure) it is difficult to assess whether or not the move was made out of necessity or simply because he had the money to be able to have the surgery done more expediently in the United States.

This issue raises a troubling aspect of the current health care debate in Canada and in the United States. Critics of President Obama's healthcare reforms were quick to point out Canadian wait lists as one of the reasons to avoid a social system. Having one of our most visible premiers go south of the border does not reflect well on our own system, at home or abroad.

We will continue to examine this issue over the coming days and provide more details as they become available.