Ralph unleashed

While he made a couple of embarrassing appearances during the election campaign, Ralph Klein was generally subdued in an effort to avoid torpedoing Harper's chance at government. But now, Klein won't keep silent any longer:

Premier Ralph Klein said his Tory caucus agreed unanimously on Thursday to move ahead with revised laws that would, among other things, allow people to buy private insurance for some procedures. Another of his government's so-called "third way" reforms would allow doctors to practise in both the public and private-health systems...

The provincial government has seven other, unspecified changes it plans to make. Klein admitted that some might violate the Canada Health Act...

To ease concerns during the federal election campaign about his party's agenda, Harper pledged to be a strong defender of the public health-care system.

The jury is still out on how receptive Harper will be to opening the door to more privatization, given his Conservative party's minority status.

It may not have been realistic to think Klein would let the issue stay dormant until the federal Cons were able to pull out a future majority. But the fact that Klein couldn't even wait a week after the election before claiming Harper as an ally in his crusade to tear down single-payer health care does nothing but to give tons of ammunition to the federal opposition parties, and to force into the limelight an issue that Harper would rather see ignored.