Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest to the speech made by the hon. member. I would like to try to put this in a simpler context. I think what the hon. member was saying and what many Bloc members are saying is that they would like the province to be totally responsible for health care with no federal involvement whatsoever.
I would like to give the member a simple example and ask the member's comment on one particular aspect of health care that we take care of, and that is the research, study, and recommendations to deal with specific problems Canadians have. One of them I am quite interested in is fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol effects. That disease affects about one in 500 births. It also accounts for five per cent of all fetal defects in Canada. That particular disease results in central nervous system disorders, brain damage, cognitive problems, attention problems, and so on. It is a very serious problem.
The federal government, using part of its money, one of many studies and programs it does, looked into this in 1992 and apparently is coming out again with a joint statement with the provinces with regard to a strategy to deal with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effects. That is just one example.
Does the member not agree that there are problems of health in Canada that are much better dealt with as a national Canada-wide effort-AIDS, aboriginal health, alcoholism, drugs, and so on-and are better handled by the federal government rather than handled individually in each and every province?