We have a system of public payment and private provision. The Ontario government's plans for more private MRI and CT scans is no different

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Have you heard about the latest Ontario health-care scandal? According to the province’s opposition parties, it’s not that Ontarians are waiting more than three times as long as they should for key diagnostic tests. Instead, it’s the government’s plan to fix the problem.

On Monday, the Doug Ford government announced the addition of 100,000 MRI and CT scans a year. How can that be bad? These are necessary diagnostic tests and the shortage of them contributes to long wait times for treatment.

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Right on cue, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie and NDP Leader Marit Stiles responded to the announcement like a couple of well-trained parrots. They say the problem is that the government is using the private sector to add capacity.

“We are seeing the dismantling of our health-care system,” Stiles said, before wandering off topic to talk about emergency room closures. Not to be outdone, Crombie said the diagnostic-testing expansion “was just one more step in the privatization of our health-care system.” She predicted that that “people will be going into these clinics with their credit cards.”

Crombie even called in backup in the form of MPP Adjil Shamji, the Liberal party’s health........

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