Ted Cruz says he knows "quite a bit" about Canadian health care, but apparently less about Canadian politics.
The Calgary-born Texas senator had a bit of a flub during a town hall debate with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday.
The two debated the future of the Affordable Care Act, former president Barack Obama's health care legislation that brought insurance coverage to millions of Americans.
Cruz brought up an example from Canada to highlight the problems with socialized medicine, but he may not have convinced many Canadians.
"The governor of one of the Canadian provinces came to America to get heart surgery," Cruz said.
"And he was a governor in Canada."
He was referring to former Newfoundland and Labrador premier Danny Williams, who travelled to Florida in 2010 for mitral valve surgery even though the procedure was available in Canada.
Premier. Not governor.
Canadians took notice of Cruz's error.
While Cruz wasn't educated in Canada — his family left Calgary for Texas when he was four — one would hope that as a politician who came close to nabbing the U.S. Republican nomination, he'd make an effort to understand the Canadian political system.
But he further proved that he didn't like his birthplace back in 2014, when he renounced his Canadian citizenship.
At the time, the move was believed to signal his plans to run for president. Some had questioned whether he was eligible as a dual citizen, but none of the challenges to his candidacy ever succeeded.
To be fair, Sanders didn't point out his opponent's error, either because he didn't notice or didn't want to interrupt.
No one understands us.
Also on HuffPost
