There's certainly some good news to be found in an arbitrator's ruling that private surgery clinics are permissible as a temporary measure at most due to their not being cost-effective as a permanent systemic change. But it's also worth pointing out the dangers of relying on a collective bargaining agreement as the means of preserving Saskatchewan's public health care system.
After all, it's entirely foreseeable that the same government which imposed the mandate to use private operators in the first place might meddle in future negotiations to ensure that it doesn't run into such snags in the future. And if that results in the removal of the relevant CBA provisions (either by bargaining or by legislation) before the 2013 deadline expires, then yesterday's decision may serve as little more than a speed bump on the Wall government's road to for-profit health care.
So while it's worth celebrating some arbitral confirmation that building capacity in the public sector is the only move that makes sense for long-term cost efficiency, the most important task in defending the province's health-care system is still to replace a government bent on its privatization.
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