Mr. Speaker, how can we explain the Prime Minister's haste to set up a royal commission of inquiry to review health services and operations in that sector, when the federal government has no jurisdiction over the delivery of these services?
This is the same government that deprived Quebec of $4.3 billion in health transfer payments, but when the general election became imminent it miraculously found a few billion dollars to reinvest in the system. Such opportunism.
In recent years, several forums have given stakeholders a chance to discuss these issues and the conclusion was always the same one. Health care spending will grow by 5% annually. The provinces need money and the only responsible action that the Prime Minister can take is to restore transfer payments to their 1993-1994 level, with an indexing factor.
Incidentally, the last time the Prime Minister set up a royal commission of inquiry on health, the Krever commission, he did not even have the decency to respect the conclusion reached by its members.