Mr. Speaker, for the member to dismiss the concerns we have raised today does a great disservice to the thousands of people in Canada who are very concerned about the care they are receiving or who are very worried about whether care will be there when they need it. It is not a partisan request for doctors, nurses, hospitals and health care organizations to come forward with one voice to say that this government owes it to our health care system to put $2.5 billion immediately back into it. That request is truly in the interest of preserving something we all believe in.
Does the member acknowledge that Canada is now 17th among 28 industrialized OECD nations in terms of public spending on health care? Does he acknowledge the federal share of that public spending is now down to 14%, if we are lucky? Is he ready to acknowledge a report of the Canadian Institute for Health Information covered by the media today which stated that private sector health spending now represents over 30% of this country's total health bill?