by Kelly McParland: National Post

Ontario’s premier, Dalton McGuinty, has apparently concluded that it is in the interests of all Canadians to put the squeeze on doctors’ pay, and written to the other premiers advocating a united front.

It’s probably not entirely a coincidence that Mr. McGuinty’s government happens to be embroiled in the opening stages of an ugly-looking contest to cut back on the doctors’ share of the swollen provincial health budget.  His health minister, Deb Matthews, has already denounced the doctors as greedy money-grubbers.  Last week she announced the province would unilaterally chop millions of dollars in fees.

But Mr. McGuinty’s letter doesn’t dwell on these unfortunate circumstances. Instead, it’s all about the national interest.

“I recognize that each province and territory has its own plans to reform medicare — and each of us has our own starting point for payment arrangements with doctors,” the letter states.

“But I urge you to consider how we might work together through strong, forward-looking reforms — such as those we are implementing in Ontario.”

Technological breakthroughs in areas such as pharmaceuticals, diagnostic imaging and surgical techniques can allow doctors to cover more ground in a day, McGuinty argues.

“It only makes good sense that, when medical breakthroughs allow a physician to greatly increase the number of procedures or surgeries done in a day, the payment made by Canadians to that physician be reconsidered and re-balanced,” he writes.

Perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, Mr. McGuinty may have sabotaged his hopes of a reasonable response back in February, when Alberta Premier Alison Redford appealed to him for cooperation on another scheme with potential  benefits — a national energy strategy — and he told her to take a hike.

Ms. Redford had suggested Ontario should be a more vocal advocate for oil-sands development, on the grounds that related businesses benefit Ontario’s economy. That met with a rebuff on Monday from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who said Canada’s high “petro dollar” has hobbled exporters in his province.

That prompted a sharp rebuke from Ms. Redford. She said Mr. McGuinty’s “simplistic” approach to the oil sands and the Canadian dollar is based on a “false paradigm” and suggested that the leader of the country’s one-time economic powerhouse needs to broaden his outlook.

In Mr. McGuinty’s view, the “national interest” means a weak dollar so Ontario manufacturers can get back some of the market share they’ve lost. Alberta is wrecking things for Ontario by having resources which it sells to eager foreign buyers, pushing up the value of the dollar.

… McGuinty rejected calls from Redford for him to do more to publicly defend the oilsands. He said Ontario would prefer a lower dollar over a growing oil and gas industry in Western Canada.

“The only reason the dollar is high, it’s a petro dollar, driven by the global demand for oil and gas to be sourced in Western Canada,” McGuinty said. “If I had my preferences as to whether we have a rapidly growing oil and gas sector in the West or a lower dollar benefiting Ontario, I stand with the lower dollar.”

Now, however, Mr. McGuinty would really appreciate it if Ms. Redford would help him out with his doctor problem. I’ll bet she gets right on it.