Howell, reporting from Cannes, writes that Michael Moore's mockumentary on American health care, Sicko, is receiving a chilly reception from Canadian journalists who question his rose–colored depiction of Canadian health care.

We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government–funded medicare system compared with America's for–profit alternative.

While justifiably demonstrating the evils of an American system where dollars are the major determinant of the quality of medicare care a person receives, and where restoring a severed finger could cost an American $60,000 compared to nothing at all for a Canadian, Sicko makes it seem as if Canada's socialized medicine is flawless and that Canadians are satisfied with the status quo.

Moore makes the eyebrow–raising assertion that Canadians live on average three years longer than Americans because of their superior health care system.

We Canucks were taking issue with the large liberties Sicko takes with the facts, with its lavish praise for Canada's government–funded medicare system compared with America's for-profit alternative.

We might hear even more criticism of Moore's film from Cuban patients...if they were ever allowed to leave Castro's dictatorship.