Mr. Speaker, what struck me in the speech made by the member from the Reform Party, before my colleague made his comments, is that he told the House that the Canadian health care system is one of the best if not the best in the world and that he did not want in any way a health care system based on the American model.
I think that having private clinics, as suggested by my colleague, would be the beginning of the end of our health care system as we know it in Canada and the birth of a two tier system, one for the rich and one for the poor.
I am well aware of cases like the one mentioned by the member for Macleod, the case of Stephanie. Such cases exist in every riding in this country, but I think that, at the present time, the provision of essential services is good. Of course there is room for improvement in the area of essential services, and these improvements must be made through prevention. I think that, without prevention, we will have problems in the future. But prevention is an essential part of our government's vision of health care, and that is the direction we are going to take as we move toward the next millenium.