Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the member's speech. At one point in his speech he made the comment that sickness in Canada is not made tragic because the system pays for everything. I would like to tell a short story and ask a question of the member about that very aspect.
In 1989 a man I know noticed some blood in his stool so he went along to the doctor. The doctor said it looked pretty serious and that he would have to book the man in to see a specialist. It was going to take six weeks to see the specialist in Vancouver. That is not uncommon. Anybody who has been to a doctor and has had to go to a specialist knows that sort of waiting list is common in Canada. The man said to the doctor: "I am not prepared to wait six weeks for something that could be life or death. Give me the name of someone I can see in the United States because when it comes to life and death, I am prepared to pay".
The doctor said he would see what strings he could pull. The doctor pulled some strings and voilà, in two days the man suddenly received attention. It was not because it was fair that he jumped to the front of the line but because he made a lot of noise about it. He visits the specialist and the specialist says: "You really need an MRI to determine exactly the extent of the problem. It is going to take 10 weeks to get you an MRI at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver because there is not enough money to run it. It can only do five scans a day and only one of those is for anything other than cranial scans". If you have a cat that is sick you can take it to the MRI after hours and it can be scanned. You can pay for your cat to be scanned but you cannot pay.
This person said: "I'm not prepared to wait 10 weeks for an MRI. Give me the name of a place in the United States". The doctor said: "Okay, if you go down to Bellingham, St. Joseph's Hospital can do it for you. Let me call and make the arrangements". He called up and the man was offered an appointment the very next day, not 10 weeks, the very next day.
The man decided it was a little inconvenient the next day so went two days later. He was treated like a client, not a number. He was shown into the hospital. He was not even asked whether he could pay or not.
I know this is the truth because it was me. The man was not even asked if he could pay. He was invited into the hospital. He had his test. He had the MRI. The doctor said to him: "If you will have lunch and a cup of coffee, in two hours come back and we will have the report written up and all the pictures for you".
I had my entire tests done and was back in Vancouver in four hours with the results that would have taken 10 weeks.
The worse thing about that whole exercise was when everything had been done, and I had been given the package, they said: "How are you going to pay for this?" I had to pay $1,000 U.S. to St. Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham when I would rather have paid it to St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.
What sort of a stupid system is this? This is not rich and poor. It is life and death.
When the member says that the Canadian system does not make sickness tragic he should think a bit more about real cases. It is real. Luckily I had the choice to go across the border and pay $1,000 U.S. to save my life. The sick, despicable system that the government continues to support would have resulted in my death because of the waiting lists and no choice.
All that the Reform Party wants in the health care system is choice. That is all it is. It is not to deprive anybody of anything. If I had been able to spend that $1,000 at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver I would have subsidized an MRI for somebody else who could not afford to pay. That is the principle.
That is why the eye clinics in Alberta work so well. That is why the waiting lists are down. The people who have a little extra money and are prepared to go some other place reduce the waiting lists.
I would like to hear the member's comments about that and why he would support a system that would have resulted in my death.