Adam Smith’s ‘Saline Solution’ for Canada’s Health-Care System

Commentary Canada’s health-care system is on life support, but many of its patients are still waiting to be as they languish on waiting lists, getting slowly sicker and in many cases simply dying, untreated. Sick patients are frequently subjected to poor care—if they get care at all—while front-line health-care workers are subjected to overwork. In 2023, the average waiting time from referral to treatment was 27.7 weeks. In some parts of Canada, like Nova Scotia—where the average wait time was 56.7 weeks or over one full year—it takes significantly less time to create a human than to treat one....