I would like to respond to the parliamentary secretary. I think it's very unfortunate that government members would choose to participate in this discussion and decide that this is just some kind of stunt. To us this is a very serious issue.
Yes, the unilateral decision was made a number of weeks ago, but the premiers' conference was just last week. I was there and I listened to what Christy Clark, the chair, had to say, and what came out of that conference from the 13 premiers. They said to Canadians that they were very concerned about the lack of federal participation. It was “unprecedented” and “unacceptable”. Those were the words they used.
We know that the federal share of health care funding has gone from 50% in the 1970s to 20% today. Under the new formula it will be reduced by an average of 18.6%, so this is a very serious issue. This is what our committee should be dealing with.
We know, based on our agenda--and the chair has just affirmed it--that we are booked up, in effect, until sometime in March. We believe this is a very critical issue that needs to be addressed now, so I would ask the Conservative members of this committee to deal with the substance of the issue. That is what we are here to deal with: the substance of federal funding and the relationship with the provinces on health care. We are here to deal with that on its merits.
This is not a stunt. This is us as the opposition using the avenues that we have available--which, I might add, the Conservatives agreed to when this standing order change was made--to ensure this committee can indeed meet and discuss this very important issue. That is what we want to accomplish today.