Mr. Speaker, first I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague for his fine speech. I would also like to tell the House that my hon. friend is displaying some of the finest elements of democracy by asking his constituents what they think about the issues of the day and enabling them to have an effective role in this House through their elected member. Other members of Parliament should take heed of what my hon. friend has done in his riding and in how he employs those ideas.
My hon. colleague brought before us an area that is of some great concern to me professionally and also to members that live on the same island as both of us. In fact, it affects all Canadians: health care in this country.
One of the great disappointments of the throne speech was its inability to put forward any constructive solutions to the problems affecting the health and welfare of Canadians. The situation is unsustainable, which has been admitted by both the government and all members of this House. It cannot continue to go on as is. When it falls apart, it will only hurt those who are in greatest need, those who are sick.
We have to put forward constructive solutions to put publicly funded health care on a long term sustainable footing. I saw nothing about that in the throne speech. It is a great disservice for us to sit here and argue on the basis of philosophical grounds to maintain the Canada Health Act as a status quo. The government has mentioned that it does not want the status quo but it has not provided any alternatives.
Does my hon. colleague support choice in health care, enabling Canadians to choose alternative ways of getting health care through a two-tiered system which would enable them to buy their health care if they so choose while maintaining the status quo in publicly funded health care. This would give individuals the ability to get their health care free of charge in a publicly funded health care system but in a health care system that provided all Canadians with essential services in a timely fashion? Would my hon. colleague support such a move?