Mr. Speaker, this debate is taking place in the light of a change of mind or a change of heart by the province of Ontario. According to news reports it has changed its mind three times in the last four or five days.
I would caution all members of this House that the changing of the mind of one province does not an agreement make. The NDP Government of British Columbia has been steadfast in refusing to budge on this issue. At this date we do not know what the chairman of the committee of ministers, the minister of health for Saskatchewan, is going to say in response to that change of mind by the province of Ontario.
Our minister, in response to Ontario's change, has agreed to meet once again. There are some very good reasons for that. The fact is that the decision which was brought to this House was the decision of 13 provincial and territorial governments. That message has got to be made very clearly. When our Minister of Health was standing to defend that decision, he defended an agreement of 13 territorial and provincial governments.
During the last five weeks there has been a disease in this House. It is a disease called political opportunism. That disease has some symptoms that are clear. The first one is selective memory loss. You forget part of the story and only tell half the story, and that becomes the case. The second symptom is failure to recognize where responsibility really lies. The third is, in many cases, a complete reversal of party policies in order to exploit this tragedy.
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that had it not been for the Minister of Health this issue would never have reached the table. The previous—