What is climate change really about? Is it a scientifically established phenomenon with clear human causes that poses an acute threat to the health of the Earth’s biosphere? That would certainly establish an urgent need for decisive policy actions affecting all of society. But what about what comes next? Are the serious if not devastating economic and social effects on billions of middle-class people around the world simply the unfortunate but unavoidable consequences? Or are they something deeper and more sinister – a feature of the program? Perhaps its very purpose? Andy Crooks crystallizes these questions via two fictional but plausible Canadians who first dance around, then dig into and ultimately get to the heart of the matter.

If a system always claims to be “at capacity”, announces it’s “nearing the breaking point” every time anything unexpected occurs, perennially frets about “staff burn-out”, and blames patients themselves for the crime of getting sick, then maybe it’s time to change the system. So it has been with Canada’s health care system and Covid-19. Whether there are 50 people in hospital or 500, it’s always too many, and we’re continually on the cusp of cancelled cancer treatments and delayed organ transplants. Seeing opportunity and hope in crisis, Andy Crooks envisions harnessing the efficiency and drive of the private sector to break the bureaucratic stranglehold and deliver world-class health care.