In the United States, the supply of swine flu vaccine has fallen dramatically short of projections. And, as the New York Times reports, the shortage is posing a political test for President Barack Obama.
Here in the great white north, the opposition parties are also on the attack, which should come as no surprise. The big difference, of course, is that Canada's parliamentary system accords less deference to the executive. And the exchanges between government and opposition -- two sword-lengths across the floor of the Commons -- have always been more vigorous and far less polite, even in the years before the House degenerated into a place you wouldn't want to take your kids.
The opposition's role is to be tough on the government, and asking a politician to forswear partisanship is like asking a teenager to abstain from sex. Where the line is crossed is when an MP is making a serious problem facing the country worse.
In the case of swine flu, that line is being crossed by the Liberals' Caroline Bennett. The chief public health officer of Canada, a man she herself appointed to his position, has been clear that both versions of the vaccine are safe for pregnant women. And the government has been clear in taking Dr. David Butler-Jones's advice, as Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq responds politely when asked.
Caroline Bennett is a medical doctor, and she should know better than to contribute to the climate of fear in the country. An inveterate heckler herself, she claims now not to be playing politics, but it's been hard for some time not to see the look of contempt bordering on hatred that, no matter what the issue, invariably appears on her face when she rises in the Commons to ask a question of the mild-mannered Aglukkaq. And it's impossible to ignore this report of "a household flyer that attacks the government's handling of H1N1 among aboriginals with the slogan "No vaccines, just body bags ... mailed as a message from Liberal health critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett, [which] features a picture of body bags in a lab and a sick aboriginal child" -- for which Dr. Bennett apologized yesterday.
