Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to dedicate my speech to the Minister of Human Resources Development, who is honouring us with his presence. I am sure that, being a Montrealer himself, he will understand.
Let us tell it as it is. If the opposition, one of the best this House has ever seen, felt the need to sound the alarm today, it is because there is an urgent need to take action. There is no doubt that, in a criminal court context—and I can safely make this statement because of your legal background—formal charges would have been laid for misappropriation of funds. Money was stolen. I think this is the least unparliamentary way to put it.
This means that the federal government maliciously and unilaterally misappropriated funds, without showing any respect for the provinces and their priorities. It went all out. If we add up all the amounts cut from transfers the government was supposed to return to the provinces but failed to do so, we arrive at a total of $42 billion.
Obviously, one might say this is inconsequential, but to say so is to behave irresponsibly and without sensitivity. We will not stand for that.
Through you, Mr. Speaker, we are asking all government members, from the most obscure backbencher to the most visible minister, including the Minister of Human Resources Development, to tell cabinet it is imperative that the provinces get back what was taken from them.
I want us to be clear. Earlier, I listened to the parliamentary secretary, who was saying that a minimum level had been set. This is like telling our fellow citizens that happiness is the absence of unhappiness. Forty-two billion dollars is missing.
Health is not a partisan issue. In fact, we always have a hard time acting in a partisan fashion. Health is not a partisan issue because we all know people in our ridings, who are growing old.
Having grey hair is not what makes a person old, that is not what I mean. In each of our ridings we are familiar with people who are ageing and in need of care. Because the federal government refused to give them $42 billion, care that ought to be delivered is not being delivered.
Of these $42 billion which we consider ought to have been transferred, the allocation to the health care transfer ought to have been $6 billion. Of that figure of $6 billion, the Government of Quebec would get back more than $1 billion, closer to $2 billion, that is $1.8 billion. In my opinion, it would not be asking too much for hon. members to reach a consensus in this House so that we may conclude today that the missing $1.8 billion must be returned to the Government of Quebec, and to all of the other governments.
Federal-provincial diplomacy is nothing to be passed over lightly. Such diplomacy goes back as far as Honoré Mercier—the hon. member for Sainte-Hubert will recall her local history—who called together the first interprovincial conference in 1888.
Something very significant, very weighty, has taken place in federal-provincial diplomacy. All provinces, with one voice, regardless of the political stripe of their government, without any partisan considerations whatsoever, all the provinces, in a block—a formation we love—joined together in what has since become known as the Saskatoon consensus, and called on the federal government to restor its contributions to health care services. The Minister of Health should bow to this demand. He should draw up the cheque forthwith, and hand over to the provinces, to the Government of Quebec in particular, $1.8 billion.
All of the provinces are calling for it. Can consideration be given to this? It is not, after all, a commonplace occurrence in our political system for all of the provinces to get together on one demand, in this case for the return of this money, as they did in the Saskatoon consensus.
There is something tragic about our situation. Every dollar not transferred to the provinces for the health system marks one more step closer to poverty for our citizens. These people do not care about that.
Where is this just society we were told about in 1968? If Judy LaMarsh were here, if Lester B. Pearson were here, if those people who helped build the Liberal tradition were here, would they not support this opposition motion? Of course they would. One cannot speak from both sides of one's mouth. One cannot claim to be fighting against poverty and, at the same time, with a total lack of sensitivity, slash transfers to the provinces.
If government members still have just a touch of sensitivity, if they still have some kind of social conscience, if they still have some dignity—this word has a meaning—they will vote with the Bloc Quebecois and will ensure that the transfers are made.
It is not easy to convince the Minister of Health. He is a stubborn man. He is a man who, when one gets to know him, is rather obtuse. I would like to quote some numbers and I would ask him to take them into consideration.
This amount of $1.8 billion, which is sorely needed in Quebec to provide services to the population as a whole, represents the hospitalization costs for 370,000 people and 20% of the operating budget of all hospitals in Quebec. It represents the cost of all the CLSCs put together. This is not an academic debate. What we are talking about today is not theory or scholarly debate. What we are talking about today is the capacity of the provinces as providers of health care to continue to serve the public.
I do not understand government members. I do not understand how our colleagues can behave as if nothing has happened when funds have been misappropriated. If today we were in a criminal court, charges would be laid. This is what one has to realize.