A mini-cabinet shuffle was required last week after Energy Minister Gerry Phillips resigned from that portfolio for personal reasons. Furious George Smitherman went from health to energy, which was given a new super duper name so it would not look like George was being demoted. David Caplan replaced Smitherman as Minister of Health.
Practically as soon as it was announced, criticism began to flood in concerning Caplan’s taking charge of the prestigious ministry. Until last November, David Caplan smoked and almost as bad, depending upon your point of view, is, to put it politely, a tad on the pudgy side. It must be added that when Caplan smoked he smoked cigarettes and not the herbal weed favoured by Liberals and liberals. Both outgoing NDP leader Howard Hampton and Seatless John Tory, the head of the Conservatives, criticized premier Dalton McGuinty for making the appointment. Hampton opined that Caplan won’t be able to run the health ministry when he can’t take care of his own health. John Tory, who on occasion purports to be conservative was even worse, saying that a health minister should lead by example. No doubt it never donned on Tory that a party leader should also lead by example and be able to win a seat in the legislature just like all the anonymous backbenchers who no one outside of immediate family has ever heard of. Not to be outdone by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the media jumped on the “how can a fat boy who smoked possibly be the Minister of Health” bandwagon.
No one ever even pondered about the health of the heavyset Smitherman. But then George became a media darling after he confessed to prior illegal drug use. Unlike smoking cigarettes, breaking the laws that he had later sworn to uphold only received a chorus of oohs and awws. And, of course we all know that illegal drugs have nothing to do with a person’s health.
David Caplan’s naïve response to all of this criticism was that his health was none of the public’s business. Of course he’s wrong; his health is the public’s business and this stems not from the fact that he is a minister of the Crown but from the fact that he is an Ontarian. Get with the program that your party is so fond of, David!
Caplan’s mother, Eleanor, served as Ontario’s Minister of Health back in the 1980s in the Liberal government of David Peterson. Eleanor is her son’s double – twice his age and twice his weight (just kidding about the age part). Back when she waddled around Queen’s Park in her capacity as Health Minister, no one commented on her weight and what example she was setting for the unwashed masses that are just too dumb to run their own lives.
The contrast in the treatment of both Caplans as they assumed their cabinet posts illustrates just how much the world in general and the province of Ontario inparticular has changed in just the past 20 years. Back in Eleanor’s day the ministry existed to provide health services to residents on Ontario. Its present function is not one of a provider of services but rather a vehicle for social engineering. The main function of the government is not to aid people in their health but to control their lives, telling them what they can do, what they can eat and generally how they can run their lives. And the elites, including Partly Conservative leader John Tory aren’t simply sneering at David Caplan – they’re sneering at all of us poor fools who aren’t quite bright enough to be allowed to make our own decisions. We, of course don’t know any more about David Caplan’s actual health than we do about the health of any other Ontario politician other than perhaps John Tory who is allergic to sitting in the legislature.
Maybe, just maybe, having a real person like David Caplan who smoked and likes to eat and drink will bring a refreshing breath of reality to the government of Dalton McGuinty and his elevation to lead the Ministry of Health will be a step back to the days of his mother. But that’s highly unlikely in this the 21st century. As one female blogger writing about Caplan put it – size does matter.
