Klein Faces a Tough Audience

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Lydia Miljan

On Tuesday, November 16, 1999, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein went on province-wide television and radio to announce legislation that would partially change the way health care is delivered in Alberta. Klein argued that the proposed legislation - contracting services out to private health providers - would reduce waiting lists, increase access, and cut costs. The announcement was the lead story on the "CTV News" and was covered in the major national papers.

A number of contradictory trends stand out in the first day’s reaction to the speech. On the whole the coverage was roughly balanced between Klein’s remarks that this legislation would provide a positive change in health care delivery in the province, and critics complaints that it would undermine the tenets of the Canada Health Act. The notable exceptions were "CBC Online," and the Calgary Herald, which provided the highest proportion of unfavourable comments, and the National Post, which provided the highest frequency of favourable statements about the proposal. However, close examination of the coverage reveals that the number of media critics out-numbered media supporters of the legislation. In fact, apart from Klein himself, the hospital group that would provide the services, and a couple of man-on-the-street interviews, no group was presented as arguing the merits of the idea. This, despite the fact that on Monday of the same week, the federal Liberal party pollster, Pollara, released a survey suggesting that 73 percent of Canadians support some form of private health care system. This, also, despite a September 30 Gallup poll that indicated that half of Canadians favoured a two-tiered health care system.

Part of the reason for the tone of the unfavourable coverage was that most of the news agencies used the same sources and critics. At least one provincial opposition party was quoted in every story - always the New Democrats and sometimes the Liberal leader as well. The New Democrat leader’s comments were reported in every story while Liberal leader Nancy MacBeth’s comments were reported in 4 of the 6 news agencies examined. The favoured quote by media outlets was Pam Barrett’s comment: "He closed three Calgary hospitals. One of them he blew up, another one he sold for a song. It’s his problem and he shouldn’t be going to the private, for-profit hospital sector to fix it."

In addition, the only economist interviewed in any of the news stories was University of Alberta Health professor Richard Plain, who was quoted in the "CBC Online" story, and in the Edmonton Journal. Among other things, he was quoted as saying that "Health Minister (Allan) Rock needs to be brought right into this debate, front and centre, because he’s one of the reasons why the Alberta government can push this envelope so long and so hard." It is interesting to note that the calls for federal intervention came from none other than the CBC. Plain’s comments in the Edmonton Journal were that the "private services would not improve access or reduce waiting lists, but would add to the administrative costs of the public sector."

One major element of the coverage that was missing was a critical analysis of whether or not the province of Alberta currently adheres to the Canada Health Act. While "CTV News" spelled out the Act and most news agencies repeated critics’ claims that this proposed legislation might lead Alberta down a path where they might in the future contravene the act, no one questioned whether the act was currently adhered to. According to The Fraser Institute book Healthy Incentives, four of the tenets of the act - that health care be universally available, accessible, portable, and comprehensive - are currently upheld.1 We do not currently have universal access to health care since in provinces such as BC and Alberta, premiums are charged. It is not accessible in that medical care varies from province to province, and waiting lists are on the increase. It is not portable since there is no reciprocal billing agreement between Quebec and the other provinces, and it is not comprehensive since the range of insured services varies widely from province to province. Failing to provide facts about the current state of the health care system tacitly endorses critics’ claims that this legislation could somehow, de facto, make Alberta non-compliant.

One of the myths held by many modern journalists is that theirs is a profession that acts as a catalyst for change. Critics on the right often disparage the influence they believe journalists have in destroying institutions, in promoting declining moral standards, and in generally influencing the political process so that it becomes more "progressive." While there are many examples of journalists promoting social change, there are undoubtedly an equal number of examples where journalists have hindered change.

Media critics on the left have of ten complained that the media promote the status quo and are, in fact, rather conservative in their outlook. This case is unusual in that we are in a situation where journalists generally support the status quo, but that policy is not a policy of conservatism, but of socialism.

Notes

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Last Modified: Wednesday June 9, 1999.