"Shocking" news came through the airwaves during the election when NDP leader Jack Layton was "outed" for using a private hospital for hernia surgery. Hopefully the rest of us will soon have access to the same excellent treatment he received at the Shouldice Hospital near Toronto. Considering the blind ideology of the Saskatchewan government, don't hold your breath waiting for change.

Shouldice Hospital has been operating on hernias since before World War II. The non-profit hospital has used its unique surgical technique to bring relief to more than 300,000 patients. Called the "Shouldice Technique" or "Canadian Method," Shouldice Hospital's approach to hernia surgeries has been admired replicated around the world.

Located just outside Toronto on a picturesque country estate, Shouldice boasts 89 beds and impeccable patient care. In the public system, hernia surgeries are usually treated as day surgeries - the patient arrives in the morning, receives the surgery and goes home to recover. At Shouldice, patients are asked to stay in the hospital for two or three nights. They firmly believe a longer hospital stay speeds up recovery. Patients can participate in gentle exercise classes, walk around the 20 acre estate and even practice golf on a putting green. All these factors contribute to their phenomenal 99 per cent success rate. The average North American success rate is less than 90 per cent.

Even better is that patients can get hernia surgery at Shouldice without paying a dime because its covered by provincial health plans.

Shouldice is very proud of the efficiencies that come with exclusively operating on hernias. In general hospitals, disposable surgical supplies can cost as much as $200 to $850 per surgery. At Shouldice, disposables cost $17.82 per surgery.

Yet, despite all the extraordinary work done by Shouldice, Layton was forced to shuffle his feet and justify having surgery done at a private clinic. The questions were perfectly fair as his rhetoric has been openly hostile to private hospitals since the beginning of his political career.

Just last December, Layton was touting a proposed law that would "shut down" private clinics and stop "public money" from "subsidizing" health care "profiteers" who are circling medicare waiting for a chance to strike.

In the case of Shouldice the hospital itself is non-profit, but the doctors inside that hospital, as in any other medical clinic in Canada, certainly don't do hernia surgeries for charity.

Jack Layton vows that he will never use a private clinic, or send a loved one to a private health clinic. He says he wants to "support" public medicare. Here's the thing, Jack. You don't "support" public health care by using it. You support it by using it less.

Here in Saskatchewan private health care has been in the news as well. British Columbian entrepreneur Don Copeman announced he plans to expand his private medical clinic currently operating in Vancouver to cities across Canada - including Regina and Saskatoon. For a fee of around $2,300 per year, Copeman clinics offer a guaranteed family doctor, extensive on-site testing, diagnostics and a wide range of preventive measures.

The Saskatchewan government's response was quick and absolute. There will be no private, for-profit medical clinics in Saskatchewan if they can do anything about it (whether they can prevent it or not is debatable). They trotted out the same tired arguments as they always have. Private clinics would draw much-needed doctors and nurses from the public system and somehow make the wait line problem worse.

Patients - like Jack Layton and others - need and deserve alternatives to long wait lists. That doesn't mean the tax-funded public system disappears, rather, private alternatives simply augment what is currently available. A mix of public and private health care exists in every corner of the globe save Canada and North Korea. It would allow provincial health plans to contract out to private clinics like Shouldice or allow patients to pay out of pocket if they choose.

The Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Chaoulli v. Quebec stated succinctly that depriving citizens of alternatives to waitlists is a violation of human rights.

It's ridiculous that citizens can spend as much as they want on health care for their pets, gambling or alcohol yet they are prevented by legislation from spending on the health of a child or loved on. "That's illegal," says the government. "Now get in line and wait your turn."

Enough is enough. Cheers to the Supreme Court and Shouldice Hospital and Bravo Jack Layton - your actions speak louder than your words.