I recently finished reading Health for All: A Doctor’s Prescription for a Healthier Canada, by the former Canadian member of Parliament Dr. Jane Philpott. (disclosure: Philpott spoke to my class in 2020 via Zoom.)
Philpott is a remarkable human-being. Smart, hard-working, resilient, selfless – she’s a role model for all of us, and just the kind of person you hope would go into politics.
She did enter the political fray and, whether or not you liked the results, there is no denying that she achieved a lot over a short period. (Marijuana legalization, assisted death legislation, healthcare funding agreements with all of the provinces, the task force on Syrian refugees.)
She was the grown-up in the room, actually answering questions during Question Period, speaking directly and honestly to the press, and fully committing to her ministerial and constituency obligations.
Nonetheless, by the end of her four-year term as a member of Parliament, she had been excommunicated from the Liberal party. (She ran as an independent candidate in 2019 and was not re-elected.)
Readers of this blog are likely familiar with the SNC Lavalin affair. Philpott’s role was tangential: she did not support her government’s treatment of Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould and therefore resigned from Cabinet. In her words:
“I did not want my presence in cabinet, or my silence, to imply my consent for actions that I deemed to be wrong. I had no other option but to resign” (207).
There is something to be said for this, but I am perplexed that Philpott, who hoped to continue to sit as a back-bench Liberal MP, seems surprised by the negative response of so many of her former party colleagues – who all but told her not to let the door hit her on the way out.
It seems to me that the challenge that people as decent and honourable as Philpott sometimes face is that, while they have overwhelming empathy for those who are obviously less fortunate, their humility can prevent them from having similar feelings for those who they perceive (often wrongly) as equally successful.
(In my experience, a significant number of senior military leaders are similarly unable to recognize how extraordinary their willingness to accept unlimited liability in the service of their country really is.)
For Philpott, being an MP was one of many career highlights. For many of her Liberal MP colleagues, it is, or was, the best job that they will ever have.
For them, life after politics will be difficult – many cannot go back to the careers they left behind, and both the private sector and the non-for-profit community will be hesitant to hire them for fear of displeasing a new government of a different political stripe.
When Philpott, one of the most respected MPs in Ottawa, made her disappointment with her government public, she damaged the already teetering Liberals in the polls.
To a number of her fellow MPs who, through no real fault of their own, now found their jobs and futures at risk, her principled resignation was the self-righteous act of a person of immense privilege.
Philpott has not ruled out a return to politics, and I hope she does consider running again – provincially. Her thoughts on universalizing primary health care in Canada deserve attention and have a much greater chance for success if built out slowly, province by province.
If she does launch a political comeback, though, I hope that she recognizes that continuing to assume that her extraordinary strength of character is the norm will do her no political favours.
***
For more thoughtful work on the future of Canadian healthcare, see Danielle Martin’s Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians.
***
To be notified of my next post, follow me on X (Twitter) @achapnick or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-chapnick/.
You can subscribe to my newsletter at https://buttondown.email/achapnick.
Philpott is a remarkable human-being. Smart, hard-working, resilient, selfless – she’s a role model for all of us, and just the kind of person you hope would go into politics.
She did enter the political fray and, whether or not you liked the results, there is no denying that she achieved a lot over a short period. (Marijuana legalization, assisted death legislation, healthcare funding agreements with all of the provinces, the task force on Syrian refugees.)
She was the grown-up in the room, actually answering questions during Question Period, speaking directly and honestly to the press, and fully committing to her ministerial and constituency obligations.
Nonetheless, by the end of her four-year term as a member of Parliament, she had been excommunicated from the Liberal party. (She ran as an independent candidate in 2019 and was not re-elected.)
Readers of this blog are likely familiar with the SNC Lavalin affair. Philpott’s role was tangential: she did not support her government’s treatment of Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould and therefore resigned from Cabinet. In her words:
“I did not want my presence in cabinet, or my silence, to imply my consent for actions that I deemed to be wrong. I had no other option but to resign” (207).
There is something to be said for this, but I am perplexed that Philpott, who hoped to continue to sit as a back-bench Liberal MP, seems surprised by the negative response of so many of her former party colleagues – who all but told her not to let the door hit her on the way out.
It seems to me that the challenge that people as decent and honourable as Philpott sometimes face is that, while they have overwhelming empathy for those who are obviously less fortunate, their humility can prevent them from having similar feelings for those who they perceive (often wrongly) as equally successful.
(In my experience, a significant number of senior military leaders are similarly unable to recognize how extraordinary their willingness to accept unlimited liability in the service of their country really is.)
For Philpott, being an MP was one of many career highlights. For many of her Liberal MP colleagues, it is, or was, the best job that they will ever have.
For them, life after politics will be difficult – many cannot go back to the careers they left behind, and both the private sector and the non-for-profit community will be hesitant to hire them for fear of displeasing a new government of a different political stripe.
When Philpott, one of the most respected MPs in Ottawa, made her disappointment with her government public, she damaged the already teetering Liberals in the polls.
To a number of her fellow MPs who, through no real fault of their own, now found their jobs and futures at risk, her principled resignation was the self-righteous act of a person of immense privilege.
Philpott has not ruled out a return to politics, and I hope she does consider running again – provincially. Her thoughts on universalizing primary health care in Canada deserve attention and have a much greater chance for success if built out slowly, province by province.
If she does launch a political comeback, though, I hope that she recognizes that continuing to assume that her extraordinary strength of character is the norm will do her no political favours.
***
For more thoughtful work on the future of Canadian healthcare, see Danielle Martin’s Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians.
***
To be notified of my next post, follow me on X (Twitter) @achapnick or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-chapnick/.
You can subscribe to my newsletter at https://buttondown.email/achapnick.
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