CTV is reporting that given a recent question, the Conservatives and NDP are (obviously) showing a split on a health care issues. When asked if their wives needed hip replacement surgery and had the option to go to a private clinic, Stephen Harper and Jack Layton responded as follows:

Jack Layton
Layton said he and his wife Olivia Chow, a candidate in Toronto’s downtown Trinity-Spadina riding, would rather suffer than go private.
“We would work for the public, for the system, because we believe in it,” he said.

Stephen Harper
Harper:Well, I’ll just say as a father and husband, you will do whatever you need to do to take care of your family
Warren: You would have gone private?
Harper: If that’s what I had to do.

For once, Stephen Harper’s inability to keep opnions to himself actually seems to gain him a ‘human’ feel - who wouldn’t agree with a man doing whatever he could for his family.

On the other side of the coin, I find it extremely hard to believe that Jack Layton would be so noble. Seems to be a case of “tell the people what they want to hear”.

I can guarantee that I’d be the first in line at this hypothetical clinic.