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“I would caution anyone in the U.S. not to adopt the system we have here,” Fullerton told Wax. “We’re trying to change the system we have here.”

And, later: “It’s almost at a point now where people are being given the idea that people have a duty to die for the system.”

Wax is appalled. “Wow,” he says more than once.

In the full interview, Fullerton says the health system is buckling under growing demand for more expensive care as the population ages and needs structural changes.

That’s code for tearing the existing system down, Fraser said. Particularly since the Progressive Conservatives haven’t shared a coherent plan for the health system, but have promised to cut from the provincial budget.

“There’s no plan. There’s no clear plan, I think it’s evident,” Fraser said of the Tories. “In the business of government, you need a plan.”

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Last time they were in power, the Tories consolidated and closed hospitals, Fraser said, and there’s no way to achieve the savings Ford has promised without doing it again.

“I am 100-per-cent committed to Ontario’s public health care system,” Fullerton said by email, responding to the Liberals’ criticisms. “Under Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals, wait times have gotten longer and hallway health-care has continued to grow. I will work with our front line doctors and nurses, toward better care for the people.”

She didn’t repudiate her advocacy for hybrid health care, but pointed to a blog post from March in which she elaborated on the issue.

“As a health advocate I have had the opportunity to review and discuss with experts the elements of better performing universal health care systems in Europe and elsewhere,” she wrote, without giving specifics. “There are lessons to be learned from other jurisdictions including from other Canadian provinces.”

dreevely@postmedia.com

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