Mr. Speaker, I listened with interest and incredulity. I cannot believe some of the things I heard from the member.
Sometimes when I think about what happens in this place, I wonder if members forget the old cliché that if you are not part of the solution, you must be part of the problem.
I want to remind the member of comments made recently by Premier Mike Harris of Ontario after his election and after looking at the finances. He publicly announced, after knowing for two years
exactly what the adjustments in transfer payments to the provinces would be, that 95 per cent of the fiscal problems of the provincial government had nothing to do with the federal government. They were problems in the financial management of the province.
I spent a number of years working on a volunteer basis on the board of the Mississauga hospital. Over those nine years there were tremendous changes in the health care system. There was a significant change in the average length of stay from approximately 7.2 days to approximately 4.9 days. There was a tremendous shift in technology. There was a tremendous shift in medical knowledge and chemistry. There were significant savings. That hospital reduced from 600 beds to 500 beds and served more patients because of the improvement in technology.
Of all of the savings that were achieved by the Mississauga hospital and by every other hospital across Canada, not one penny was transferred back to the federal government. The federal government has continued to fund at the same level and has received no credit for health care improvements over the decades.
Does the member not believe that we have to look for ways to improve the productivity of all operations, including health care, that we have to look for ways to ensure funding is satisfactory for the provision of good service, not the same level of dollar service, but improved productivity and a better value for the dollar being spent?
Changes are being made. The federal government is only getting its share of the savings. It is simply one example which shows this member has not carefully thought out the reasons the federal government should share in the savings that have been achieved across Canada.