Think twice about politics, doc

Last August, at the Canadian Medical Association's annual meeting, in Montreal, doctors eagerly asked guest speakers Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay, former New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord and NDP MP Thomas Mulcair about how to kick off a run for public office.

This year's CMA meeting is coming up in just a couple of weeks, and the political overtones of the organization's policy recommendations will surely once again provide a nice backdrop for ambitious MDs with political aspirations.

But by coincidence, just as the conference draws near, Maclean's magazine yesterday drew our attention to the dark side of the lives of those high-powered government movers and shakers: endless campaigning.

Behold: Dr Hedy Fry, a family physician turned Liberal MP who got her start in politics as a representative in the BC Medical Association and the CMA, courting votes at the Vancouver Pride Parade last weekend. Just check out what she's wearing!


The political life, regrettably, isn't all pomp and circumstance and incredibly consequential decision-making. That's the unfortunate truth. What the political bigwigs at the CMA conference should be telling doctors is: much of what amounts to politics these days is no more glamorous than some of the uncomfortable things you have to do as a family doctor -- like, say, asking your 16-year-old patient whether he's sexually active, or examining a 70-year-old's infected toenail. Like Dr Fry in her space-age get-up, you just have to smile and pretend you're not mortified to be doing what you're doing.

Photo: Dr Hedy Fry

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