Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak today to the Reform Party's motion on the future of health care and medicare in Canada and the nature and extent of the federal involvement in that. The motion states:
That this House recognize that since the inception of our national health care system the federal share of funding for health care in Canada has fallen from 50 per cent to 23 per cent and therefore the House urges the government to consult with the provinces and other stakeholders to determine core services to be completely funded by the federal and provincial governments and non-core services where private insurance and the benefactors of the services might play a supplementary role.
The Reform Party believes that a fundamental responsibility of government is to safeguard the well-being of Canadians. Principle 10 of our statement of principles says: "We believe that Canadians have a personal and collective responsibility to care and provide for the basic needs of people who are unable to care and provide for themselves".
The Reform Party also believes that the current health care system is inefficient and insufficient in providing this essential service to Canadians. The current system must be reformed to guarantee the continuation of care and the ability to address the future real demands of our health care needs for everyone's benefit.
As for the benefits now of parents, my parents, the people in the House, people across Canada, our children and our grandchildren, we need that ongoing credibility of a system that right now is itself sick.
Throughout my speech I will compare and contrast the Reform and the government approach toward securing the future of our health care system. One area that reveals this contrast between the Reform approach and the government approach is the issue of consultation. The motion urges the government to consult with Canadians and health care stakeholders about the future of medicare.
In its much touted red book, the Liberal Party committed itself to "establish a national forum on health in partnership with the provinces and health care experts to find innovative ways to control health costs while keeping medicare publicly funded and accessible for all Canadians". It sounds good but to this day the government has broken its promise. It has not fulfilled the commitment it has made, a commitment to consult with Canadians about the future of medicare and the roles that will be played by the federal and provincial governments and other health care stakeholders. Because of the heavy handed approach of the federal government in this area, the provinces have refused to participate.
Consultations are not always what they appear to be or what they are announced to be by the government. For instance I would like to remind the members here of the travelling committee that was to consult Canadians on social policy reform. What happened? A flawed attempt and a report that was delayed and delayed and ultimately shelved.
Reform on the other hand has long advocated that the federal government actively consult Canadians on vital and important national issues such as the health care system. We believe consultation must take place at all levels, with patients and users, with physicians and health care professionals, with administrators of those systems and with provincial governments. We do not believe in the top down, Ottawa says, approach. We believe that Canadians need to be part of the decision making process, especially in an important system like health care.
This Reform commitment to consultation is reflected in the motion being debated today recommending that a consultative process about the future of health care be actively and honestly pursued.
Another area that reveals the contrast between the Reform and the government approach is the area of federal funding. As noted in the motion, federal funding for health care has fallen from 50 per cent to 23 per cent over the last years.
Health care was originally implemented in 1957 with the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act. The federal government adopted this act under pressure from the provinces, some of which had provincial insurance schemes. The act established a shared cost system providing universal coverage and access to hospitals to all residents of participating provinces. By 1961 all provinces had joined this plan.
In 1977 this act was replaced with the Established Programs Financing Act. This transferred money from the federal government to provinces for both health and post-secondary education funding. In 1984 the Canada Health Act came in prohibiting extra billing and user fees and thus imposed financial penalties on provincial governments which would violate these things.
The history of health care politics is essentially the history of the federal government demanding and expecting more and more from provinces and providing those provinces with the diminishing ability and the flexibility to meet those expectations.
The present government has been in office for less than two years and it is definitely continuing this trend. In 1995 the government announced it was replacing the established programs financing plan and the Canada assistance plan with the new Canada social transfer. Under the previous system this money was transferred separately. The Canada social transfer will be a block fund provided through cash payments and transfer points.
Under the new system federal funding for health care will be reduced. In 1995-96 the federal government will transfer to the provinces some $29.7 billion, approximately at the same level that was the case for 1994-95 funding. Under this new system funding under the Canada social transfer for 1996-97 will be reduced to $26.9 billion and further reduced in 1997-98 to $25.1 billion. The government's approach to reforming health care is to cut funding without consulting or receiving input from Canadians.
In February Reform announced a taxpayers budget prior to the government's budget. In it we would give provinces additional tax room through the transfer of tax points, providing that the provinces participate in an annual federal-provincial health consultation. These regular consultations would ensure a two way communication between the two levels of government which would benefit and make better our health care system.
A first priority between the federal government and provinces would be to agree on core versus non-core services. Core services would be required to be maintained at a certain and a common standard across the country. Such things that would be necessary for core would be deemed desired by most Canadians and required by the key players in the health care field, rather than bureaucrats in Ottawa.
These services must be financially sustainable and available over a long period of time. All such services would be covered regardless of Canadians' ability to pay. Non-core services, on the other hand, would be decided also by Canadians and would be those the federal government does not have the responsibility to fund, but would be the responsibility of private funding or through insurance. Reform's approach is bottom up, not top down consultation.
As we would reduce federal cash transfers by some $800 million we would at the same time increase revenue levers and flexibility for the provinces with a transfer of tax points to those
provinces so that over time they would raise more revenue to be allocated to their health care system.
Funding for health care systems would increase over the medium and long term, steadily into the next century. This would give greater peace of mind to Canadians. It would give better flexibility to demoralized provinces and the result would be a better medical system for everyone. Our approach safeguards health care for the future while the government's approach leaves the future of health care uncertain in reality and in the minds of Canadians.
The shortfall in funding and uncertainty is of particular concern to residents of B.C. The government's planned federal funding for health care in B.C. does drop significantly. Federal transfers in 1995-96 to B.C. are approximately $3.6 billion. This is funding for health care, education and welfare under the Canada assistance plan and established programs financing. In 1996-97 under the new Canada social transfer scheme funding to B.C. will drop to $3.2 billion. Clearly something has to give. Clearly such an approach will put the resources of the provincial government under great strain.
I have heard some comment today about simplistic rhetoric. I recall the government during the last election using what I would say is worse than simplistic rhetoric, scare tactics. I remember signs within my riding: "Save Canada-Save Medicare". That kind of rhetoric when the government now puts our medical system at risk is a testimony to what I say is unfair representation by the government.