Mr. Speaker, I was pleased this morning to hear the minister of health talk about the national forum on health which will be chaired by the Prime Minister.
I hope the forum will address the shortage of physicians in rural areas and the movement of physicians trained in Canada to the United States. Villages like Keene and Lakefield in the township of Otonabee in Peterborough riding are already suffering serious shortages of physicians.
As costs are cut there is a tendency to centralize services. To obtain dialysis, for example, people have to travel great distances in great discomfort.
I hope the national forum will bear in mind that a highly centralized health system that appears cheaper at first sight will in the end cost more.