Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
Thank you, Madam Minister. Congratulations on your election and your appointment to this very important portfolio in the Government of Canada.
I want to start by talking about what you consider to be the core responsibilities of the department. It seems to me that nothing is more important and central to the core of your department than the preservation of our national public health care system. Yet, as you know, we are facing a serious erosion of that system, with user fees popping up all over the place and private for-profit clinics multiplying before our very eyes.
I would like to know from you, Madam Minister, how you intend to.... I would imagine that having been a minister in the Nunavut government, you're aware of the importance of having access for all people in this country, so that they are not denied services they need because of money or geography. So you probably understand the importance of a non-profit health care system. I would like to know what you are doing to ensure that.
So my questions on that front are threefold: number one, have you sent notices to the provinces whose transfer payments for health care were cut back in this budget? Have they been assured that in fact that money has been put back and they don't have to worry about meeting the difference this year?
Number two, are you prepared to come before this committee and actually talk with us about the Canada Health Act, which must be reviewed by this committee? It is something on which we had great trouble in the past getting the minister to address before this committee—yet it goes to the heart of everything that we believe is important in terms of our medicare system.
Number three, would you analyze and go over this extensive report by the Canadian Health Coalition, entitled, Eroding Public Medicare, which documents, over several hundred pages, just how deeply our system is being eroded and how people are being denied access?
Finally, would you just comment on whether or not your government's previous commitment to P3s is now being reassessed by your department, given the most recent information showing that the Brampton Hospital will actually cost $194 million more than what had been stated publicly, costing at least $200 million more over its 25-year lease?
Those are four questions just on that issue. Then I'd like to ask something on pharmaceuticals.