Madam Speaker, I would remind the minister that while there is only a handful of us here in the House her remarks on this subject are being carefully monitored these days by the practitioners and administrators and particularly by the provinces. The statements made here that completely deny the reality of the health care system do no service to this House nor to the government's position on the seriousness of the problem. They create the impression that we literally do not understand how the system works. That is a discredit to the minister and the government.
From what the minister says, we can tell her views of what Reform said during the election are based on what a clipping service says Reform is about. They bear no resemblance whatsoever to the positions we have articulated, particularly the Reform colleagues with medical backgrounds.
With respect to her particular question of how we facilitate the payment for services for people in this category of poor services, the minister could not have been listening to what I said. We say we should define a set of core services that are essential to the care of Canadians. Those are the services to which we would dedicate entirely the federal and provincial contributions to the funding of medicare. Those services would be brought within the financial reach of every Canadian no matter where they lived, regardless of their ability to pay. The non-essential services can be provided through other financing sources such as insurance and even user pay. That is perfectly clear.
These proposals have been presented by other health care reformers in the health care field itself and in the provinces. It is time for the minister to acknowledge them for what they are, not to pretend they are something else.