Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the hon. member's comments this morning, but I have somewhat of a disagreement with respect to the approach he is taking.
The finance committee went across the country and consulted Canadians on what type of role the federal government should play specifically in health care and other such programs. Overwhelmingly Canadians said they wanted a strong role for the federal government.
The program being proposing to eliminate the cash component and go with tax points would remove the ability of the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act. In fact we could use the word paternalistic. I would tend to disagree.
Canadians want to ensure levers are in place so that the federal government can ensure the Canada Health Act is enforced. I go back to the example of Alberta. When Alberta attempted to put in place user fees in private clinics the government held back those transfers.
The proposal the member is promoting would eliminate the role of the federal government. If the member were to put that to his constituents they would respond by saying “We want to ensure that there is a federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act”. The program the member is proposing, as was the case in the last election campaign, does not resonate with Canadians. It really has no place with respect to the Canada Health Act.