May 23, 2002

BCMA Teaches Campbell About Limits to Power

It wasn't on the published agenda, but the first hour of the latest staged cabinet meeting was spent on the government's dispute with BC's doctors. Health Minister Hansen made what can only be interpreted as threats to the BCMA.

Apparently Hansen thinks that the government would be more successful if it negotiated with some other bodies (plural intended). Before he jumps from the frying pan into the fire he might want to look at how that approach produced nothing but chaos for the last government.

The former government was confronted with what would normally be called wild cat strikes by doctors in Prince George. Today those doctors are not involved in any job action, apparently because they won big time after bringing the last government to its knees. The Prince George settlement resulted in doctors in Williams Lake, Trail, Cranbrook, Nelson, Kimberley, Nanaimo, Vancouver, and the North Shore conducting similar actions in order to negotiate separate deals town by town.

What makes the Campbell government think it can magically create two new associations (one for family physicians and one for specialists) that will meekly negotiate and bind their members? Isn't it just as likely that the town by town disaster would be repeated? Government could find itself having to deal with dozens of regional medical societies. The Campbell government should realize that it needs the BCMA as a bargaining partner far more than the BCMA needs to be party to any bargaining. The BCMA could function without having anything to do with negotiations. They might well say they don't need the grief, and after all, their members can do far better by picking the government off with dozens of regional deals.

Health Minister Hansen's hissy fits over his failure to bully the BCMA are not helpful. If anything, his verbal attacks on the BCMA might produce even more militancy amongst its members.

Government is attempting to get the public on its side by launching what can be described as a class war against the doctors. The government website contains a "fact sheet" stressing how well the doctors are doing. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has entered the fray in defense of the government by issuing a news release pointing to the big tax cuts high paid doctors recently received from the Campbell government. Respected Global TV personality, Keith Baldrey, referred to the BCMA as being dysfunctional. He promoted the government website, http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/msc/2001/, where people can look up the gross billings submitted to the Medical Services Commission by each physician.

It will be interesting to see whether the government can succeed in turning the public against the BCMA and against individual physicians. Will British Columbia be a better place to live if government gets away with attacking doctors the same way it has attacked teachers, nurses and other public sector workers?

In her remarks on March 21st, BCMA President Heidi Oetter said, "Just like the nurses and the teachers, we have found out there is no way to deal with this government in good faith. So, the BC doctors will once again be forced to do the only thing they can --- to withdraw services. And the government will have to make a decision about what they want to do in response."

It must always be remembered that government had a deal. Government created the current chaos by once again using its legislative power to break a contract and overturn the McEachern arbitration. This time the Campbell government has discovered that there are limits to power. When they broke teacher contracts and health worker contracts they knew that protests could ultimately lead to charges of criminal contempt of court. The legal framework works to keep unions in line should civil disobedience go beyond the government's willingness to tolerate it. No such framework exists for the self-employed physicians. Government has no hammer to bring down and enforce its will. Arbitration solved that problem until the government broke the contract.

The Campbell government must now repair the trust that it destroyed with BC's doctors. Attacking their organization and trying to turn the public against them will not bring peace. Not even 77 of 79 seats in the legislature can change those limits to power.