Blue Crab Boulevard

Red Flag

Despite all the inevitable gushing praise bound to projectively vomit forth from the left over the new Michael Moore self-aggrandizing film Sicko, one should really first temper their reactions by reading what Canadian journalists are saying. Because Moore is, yet again, playing fast and loose with the facts and the Canadians are throwing the flag on him. Which makes Moore whine.

Michael Moore is handing out fake bandages to promote his new film Sicko, an exposé of the failings of the U.S. health care system.

But he may feel like applying a couple to himself after the mauling he received yesterday from several Canadian journalists – present company included – following the film's first viewing at the Cannes Film Festival.

"You Canadians! You used to be so funny!" an exasperated Moore said at a press conference in the Palais des Festivals.

"You gave us all our best comedians. When did you turn so dark?"

We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government-funded medicare system compared with America's for-profit alternative.

While justifiably demonstrating the evils of an American system where dollars are the major determinant of the quality of medicare care a person receives, and where restoring a severed finger could cost an American $60,000 compared to nothing at all for a Canadian, Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo.

Moore makes the eyebrow-raising assertion that Canadians live on average three years longer than Americans because of their superior health care system.

I suggested to Moore that Sicko makes Canada's health system look so great, it wouldn't be surprising if Prime Minister Stephen Harper – of whom Moore is no fan – handed out DVD copies of it as campaign material in a future election.

Other Canadian journalists spoke of the long wait times Canadians face for health care, much longer than the few minutes Moore suggests in Sicko. Moore, who has come under considerable fire for factual inaccuracies in his films, parried back with more questionable claims.

"You're in a longer line than we're in because you get to live three years longer than we do. Why is that?" Moore said. "Why is it that a baby born in Toronto has a better chance of making it to its first birthday than a baby born in Detroit?"

Moore later back-pedalled on some of his praise, saying neither Harper nor regular Canadians should pat themselves on the back too much.

"It's not hard to do better than the U.S.," Moore cautioned. "The Canadian system, if you look on that list of the World Health Organization, is not that far above us. It's not like the French system. The French system is the best in the world."

Ah, but Moore also praises the British system - which is in imminent danger of collapse under its own weight and incompetence. And the vaunted French system has bankrupted the country, led to massive unemployment and still fails to provide the best and latest anti-cancer drugs to its citizens - according to a Swedish study. The best country for getting that advanced treatment?

The United States.

So you can get your medical facts from actual doctors and experts or you can get "facts" from a factually-challenged filmmaker who had better pray his advanced girth doesn't necessitate immediate health care anywhere in the world. (Yeah, that was a cheap shot, sorry, Moore deserves it).

Left Wing, Media, Medicine | Gaius Sunday, 20 May , 2007

By terrence, Sunday, 20 May , 2007 @ 4:44 pm

Keep in mind that The Toronto Star is a radical left-wing rag, often referred to as “The Red Star”. I am sure they are very disappointed that Blimpo did not make conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper look bad. Also, conservative in Canada is probably left-wing Democrat in the USA.
By James, Sunday, 20 May , 2007 @ 4:56 pm

My starting position will be that the Canadian journalists are a bunch of jerks.

My interest is peaked to see the movie though. Lots are saying it’s buffo, even Fox.

My advice to the Canadian journalists would be to pinpoint what is incorrect about content in the film.

Am sure Canadian medical can be just as bad as anybody elses.
By Gaius, Sunday, 20 May , 2007 @ 6:31 pm

They did pinpoint it. The reporter notes that waiting times are not - at all - what Moore claims. As a former resident of Upstate New York, I can vouch for the fact that we always had a lot of Canadians in the hospitals there - those that could afford it came to the US for treatment.

Pique is the word, incidentally. I’m not trying to be the grammar police here (I sure make enough mistakes of my own), I thought you’d like to know.
By Bleepless, Sunday, 20 May , 2007 @ 7:09 pm

As a longtime student of Western totalitarianism and anti-Americanism, I get a real feeling of deja vu. This is the same horse pukky such people used to say about the medical paradise of the USSR. That Eden being gone, Cuba will have to do.
By tess, Monday, 21 May , 2007 @ 6:10 am

FOX news gave it a rave review. They loved it! I think it’s the most anticipated movie in years. That’s all people are waiting for here.