Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Macleod. As I listened to his speech I realized that we are a lot closer than perhaps is apparent in many cases.
I listened to some of the interventions the hon. member made and I will make a few statements to perhaps rectify some of the misconceptions out there.
I have not ever said there have not been problems and that there do not continue to be serious problems with other sections of the Canada Health Act. Portability and out of country portability is one of the areas we are working on. We are trying to reach a solution with provincial governments. We believe in working co-operatively with them.
When it comes to Quebec and the portability issue there has been considerable movement on the part of Quebec to address some of the problems of people from Quebec travelling to Ontario and not getting the coverage they should have.
There is an agreement of sorts in place to cover any treatment here in the Ottawa Valley or in the Abitibi section up north. I am hopeful, because I know that the Government of Quebec is extremely interested in serving the people of Quebec, wherever they travel. I would hope we can get some kind of an agreement on that in the near future.
When it comes to accessibility and reasonable access, there will continue to be waiting lists. Some provinces have done a lot of work to address that. Not to be discounted, some provinces have a central registry of where there are rooms available so that hip replacements can be done. As you well know, there are waiting lists, but often when the need is very great those people jump to the front. When they get access to hip replacement it is generally because their need is much greater. Although access is not always perfect, everyone works to address the problem.
The member has talked about a place in Nova Scotia, Wolfville. I do not have the particulars of Wolfville, but user fees and facility fees have been and will be outlawed. Just go back to my letter of interpretation in January. I would expect that Wolfville would be addressed by that letter of interpretation. If the member has any other information, please let us know.
There are a number of other points the member made, including Quebec's psychotherapists and what is happening in the province of Quebec. They are working with medical professionals to determine the medical necessity and what they will cover. That is the beauty of what is happening with the Canada Health Act. We encourage that.
These are the kinds of things that are happening across the country. When one province gets one thing right, others often follow suit.
The member spoke about the Shouldice clinic. Yes, it is a private clinic, but it is covered by the Private Hospitals Act in Ontario. There is an act in Ontario that governs that. Therefore, people do not have to pay additionally. They get access.
We have to understand that while we have a good system, it is not perfect. Any other suggestions the member may have would help us. One of the things he seems to be proposing, at least as I understand, is a system of user fees for certain procedures or items, which would be based not on need but more on the ability to pay. This is where we fundamentally disagree.
When a facility charges a facility fee and general taxpayers are paying the physician fee, they are in essence subsidizing queue jumping for those who have the money. That goes against our principles. I would hope it goes against yours, although it does not appear to do so. That is a tax on illness. That is not a fair tax, at least in my book. Perhaps the hon. member can tell us how he thinks a facility fee is fair.