Mr. Speaker, they seem very nervous at hearing the truth. These are the words of Jeff Polowin, the former chair of the hospital. He said that the Liberal rent increase as scheduled at the end of the current lease could cost as many as 40 nurses. But it is worse than that. It could prevent the construction of the new cancer care centre.
The only thing standing in the way of solving this problem of simply giving the hospital the assurance that it will control its own land for the price of $1 is the Prime Minister who has the legal authority to make this decision at any time he wishes. I am calling on him to make that decision today.
It is too important to be left to partisanship. That member over there who continues to interrupt me has the opportunity to change her tune. She knows her community wants her to represent the hospital and not her Liberal friends. I ask her that she do the right thing just once for the hospital. The community in her riding has been crying out for her to stand up for that hospital and so far, she has chosen the other Ottawa, the downtown Liberal cronies, her friends. Choose the patients over your friends, Mr. Speaker.