Mr. Speaker, in a 1993 Liberal Party press release the prime minister described the decision to purchase much needed maritime helicopters as a colossal waste of taxpayers' money.
Since he made that statement his government has slashed health care transfers to the provinces by 35 percent. Simultaneously he spent over a billion dollars only to delay the necessary replacement of Canada's aging Sea King and Labrador helicopters.
Our health care system is viewed by many as the best in the world. It is one of the most important achievements in our history and a cornerstone of Canadian society. Preserving and improving health care are top priorities for Canadians and must be judged as important to every government.
Over the last three years the current government cut health care funding to every province and territory. It has hacked more than one-third out of health transfers to the provinces and territories.
In the last three budgets of the Minister of Finance these federal transfers were cut by more than $6 billion. This has put extra pressure on provincial governments, health care institutions, health care providers and, most of all, patients and their families.
As provincial and territorial governments struggle to absorb the federal spending cuts and community hospital cuts, many Canadians fear the health care system they has come to count on may not be there when they need it.
That begs a question. Has the government taken every measure necessary to secure funding for our health care system? Has the government spent taxpayers' money wisely and only cut health care transfers as a last resort? The answer unfortunately is no.
In 1993, in the heat of an election campaign, the prime minister made a hasty campaign promise to scrap the purchase of 43 maritime helicopters needed to replace the Department of National Defence aging Sea King and Labrador helicopters.
The decision to cancel this purchase was not made on sound judgment as part of an overall strategy for Canada's military. It was not a decision based on what is best for the value of taxpayers' money. It was made for purely partisan political reasons. The prime minister made the unwise decision but Canadians have been paying the price ever since.
Since the Liberal government took office there have been more than 511 emergency landings for the Sea Kings and 259 emergency landings for the Labrador.
The original deal on helicopters was not just a purchase but an opportunity for Canadians to co-develop proprietary technology for the EH-101. Canadians have lost forever the 10 percent job royalties guaranteed to them from all international sales of EH-101 helicopters.
The deal would have created 4,000 person years in new, high paid technology driven jobs. Instead the government must deal with the additional cost of lost jobs, closed companies and lost tax revenue.
Finally, after four years of delay, the government is poised to announce two new helicopter contracts to replace the Sea Kings and Labradors. The price of this delay, we now know, is more than a billion dollars to Canadian taxpayers in cancellation fees, additional maintenance costs and lost jobs and tax revenues. What did we get for $1 billion? Nothing, not a single helicopter.
Canadians believe and I believe the money should have gone into health care transfers. This is a time when government must make hard choices about how to use scarce health funds.
Was the obscene amount of money spent on keeping a poorly thought out campaign promise worth it? Absolutely not. That is money that could have benefited our health care system.