Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak today on Bill C-95, under which the new Department of Health will be established.
I listened carefully to the member for Calgary Centre. It was very clear he had not read the bill. He did not know what he was talking about. He was looking at the old bill instead of the new one. This is why a new bill was brought in, to save taxpayers' money and to have a health system to which all Canadians have access.
The Reform Party boasts about its great plan. The United States has that great plan, the two tier system that Reform advocates. What is happening in the United States system right now? According to figures released yesterday, 40 million Americans are not covered by any kind of health insurance and 29 million are underinsured. Sixty-nine million people do not have proper health care coverage. That is what Reform Party members want to give Canadians. Canadians do not want that system. They can shove it and they know where. Enough is enough.
Reform members want to give everything to the provinces so they can throw more money at it. We do not think throwing more money at the problem is the answer. It is using the money we have more efficiently for the modern technology that has come into our hospitals and our clinics.
When I lived in Saskatchewan I had an operation. Because of complications I was a whole month in hospital. Now an appendix can be removed and the patient is sent home. How many people have triple bypasses? Before they were told to lie in bed and not to move for weeks on end. Now they get them up walking the next day and they soon send them home. Look at the savings. If we send a patient home, we have to send proper care to the home with them.
However it is a heck of a lot cheaper than having the patient lie in a hospital bed for weeks on end.
Canada spends 9.4 per cent of its GDP on health care, far less than the U.S., yet every Canadian is covered well by health care. Japan spends only 6 per cent of GDP on health care. How can that country do it so cheaply? I think it is good management. It is done efficiently but Japan also harnesses the modern technology that has crept into the health system.
We do not need any lessons from the Reform Party. Polls show that Canadians are very pleased with our health system. The polls also show that the Reform Party is going down and this is why it is going down.
Yesterday I intervened on the bill briefly when the Bloc Quebecois complained that the federal government has no jurisdiction in the area of health care. I hope to assure the Bloc Quebecois that the government fully appreciates that provinces are responsible for all aspects of health care delivery, generally defined as hospital and medical services. However, the opinion poll indicates that Canadians recognize there remains a need for a federal presence in health, just as we have a federal presence in other jurisdictions. If changes are made to the Criminal Code, the provinces then implement the legislation and the laws that we change.
This morning the foreign affairs standing committee met and the CCC was before us. That is the Canadian corporation which does trade with countries. These countries want a federal government presence in a deal, otherwise we would not get a deal for a lot of these things. So let us not throw the federal government out completely.
I was very interested in the media conference the former Prime Minister of Canada, Pierre Elliott Trudeau had yesterday. He cautioned not to decentralize all of the powers because that is when this country will fall apart. He advocated a strong central government. Here is someone from Quebec who is giving us advice that we should heed.
Public opinion, the media, the members of this House have one thing in common: They have a legitimate concern about the future health system and the need for continued access to high quality services. By defending the Canada Health Act from attack by those who advocate user fees and private clinics, as the Reform does, the Department of Health protects this country's publicly funded universal medicare system.
Health care is only one of many factors contributing to health. There are also those factors that make and keep people healthy, known as the determinants of health. These include the social and physical environment, human biology, genetic endowment, economic status and individual behaviour.
In a recent discussion paper entitled "Strategies for Population Health: Investing in the Health of Canadians" federal, provincial and territorial health ministers provided a framework for action on the major determinants of health. It offers a solid basis for setting priorities to continue to improve the health of Canadians.
The paper recommends three strategic directions. First, it recommends strengthening public and government understanding of the determinants of health by demonstrating the links between social status, economic development, income distribution, education and health. Second, it recommends building understanding and support among government partners in sectors outside of health. Third, it suggests priority initiatives which will have a significant impact on population health.
I urge all members to put their party politics aside. When we have something good, something Canadian, something that will keep this country together, something that will provide health care service to every Canadian, rich or poor, regardless of where he or she lives, let us all get behind it and pass it today.