Oh, I think I understand his objective well enough.

Fleshner & Co. have been unable to make their case for massive spending based on medical need, so now they're trying for a do-over with a new argument: at some point in the radiant future robotic surgery of this type will be economically viable and therefore we should spend a lot of money on technology that isn't yet ready for prime time and train people on these soon-to-be obsolete techniques.

This is the same argument that gave Ontario solar power. Let's not do that again too soon.

By all means, let's have a number of these machines in Ontario. Let's hire the smartest people we can to develop techniques (as well as the necessary hardware) and perform clinical trials in an effort to advance our knowledge and improve patient care.

Once this research has shown a genuine improvement - and only then - I will be more than happy to support implementation through the entire health system.