Debates of March 10th, 1998

Employment Insurance

[Yvan Bernier, Bloc, Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-De-La-Madeleine—Pabok, QC]

Including unemployed women.

[Pierre Pettigrew, Liberal, Papineau—Saint-Denis, QC]

But if people want us to return to an obsolete system which penalized our country's workers and its economy, that is not what we are going to do. We are going to continue to serve Canadians properly.

Health

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health said yesterday that home care is the most urgent element of modernizing and enhancing medicare.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear.

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I do not know why they are clapping across the way because the finance minister obviously does not agree. There was not one penny in his budget for home care.

My question for the Minister of Health is why did he make those earnest statements yesterday when he does not have the support of his own government?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, this is so typical of the New Democratic Party. According to that party, we should spend first and find out why afterward.

What we prefer to do is identify priorities, make a plan, develop a partnership with the provinces and then invest wisely to get the job done. That is exactly what we are going to do. Yesterday we set out the priorities and now we are going to create the plan and develop the partnerships. We will then solve the problem.

[Judy Wasylycia-Leis, NDP, Winnipeg North Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health will know that the issue of a national home care plan has been studied for many, many months, including an in depth analysis by the National Forum on Health Care. Canadians do not want more studies. They want cash on the table.

If home care is such an urgent priority, why is the Minister of Health promising only to study this idea for another 12 to 18 months? If it is such an integral part of medicare, why is there no money for home care now?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, had the hon. member attended the conference she would have seen, as I did, that 400 knowledgeable people from across the country who know the subject agreed that the important thing to do is to plan wisely and invest carefully if we are going to solve the problem.

The hon. member's leader attended yesterday only long enough to go to the microphone and play politics instead of trying to be part of the solution.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, when we asked the government about health care spending last week, the Prime Minister blamed Ontario and the province of Quebec. I understand that yesterday the Prime Minister blamed Manitoba.

The Prime Minister said there would be further cuts in health care funding in Manitoba, but when we checked we found that not only have there been tax cuts in Manitoba, the government of Gary Filmon included $100 million more for health care.

Could the Prime Minister and the government tell us why health care seems to be a priority only for the premiers and not this Liberal government?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will have seen in the budget two weeks ago the importance of health care. The first thing this government did when fiscal circumstances improved was to cancel the intended reduction in transfers to the provinces. This resulted in $1.5 billion more in transfer payments this year. We have also given $60 million for a new blood system and investment in medical research.

It is clear that the priority for us is health which is reflected in the budget this year as it will be in the future.

[Jean Charest, Progressive Conservative, Sherbrooke, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health would do well to listen to the Canadian Medical Association, which said the health care system was in crisis. Seven out of ten provinces will see a drop in the funding they receive from this Liberal government.

I want to know if the minister, along with the Prime Minister, is prepared to repeat the remarks he made in the House of Commons to the premiers, who are now calling for a federal-provincial conference on the health care crisis. Will they accept the invitation from the premiers to sit down with them to discuss the future of health care?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, as I have just said, we increased transfer payments to the provinces in this year's budget.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

It is also very important to point out, as I did yesterday, that the crises are, in most cases, the result of home care needs. Yesterday, in Halifax, during a pan-Canadian conference, we put forward a co-ordinated agreement to tackle home care and improve the health system.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Skeena.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh.

Kosovo

[Daniel Turp, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, another major conflict appears to be brewing in the Balkans with the crisis in Kosovo, and once again the international community is being asked to come to the aid of peoples threatened by massacres.

My question is for the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Does he consider that the bilateral sanctions he announced and the multilateral sanctions proposed by the U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, are truly effective ways to restore peace to Kosovo?

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at this very moment is in discussion with the Secretary of State of the United States on measures to resolve the Kosovo crisis.

The measures announced are those that are within our present grasp, that is to say the termination of the export credits to the Export Development Corporation, the cessation of discussion of bilateral arrangements with Yugoslav airlines and the interdiction of any export of arms to the region.

Other measures can be discussed further. We are in continuing contact with countries in the region which are also directly affected.

I would ask the hon. member—

[The Speaker]

The hon. member for Beauharnois—Salaberry.

[Daniel Turp, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

Mr. Speaker, will the minister recognize that it may be necessary to expand the role of SFOR, the stabilization force in Bosnia, that was set up to restore peace there, which may well be needed to restore peace this time in Kosovo?

[Ted McWhinney, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs]

Mr. Speaker, that rests as a possibility, but I would also remind the hon. member that there are other countries not so far present in the resolution of the Bosnian issue that are involved. It may well be that the peaceful resolution will require widening the boundaries of discussions to include these too.

Health

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health.

Last week the minister stated that the provinces' priorities for health were not the right ones. Yesterday, the minister indicated that the priority was to establish a national home care program.

How can the minister responsible for billions of dollars in cuts in health care, via the Canada social transfer, be so arrogant as to contend that provincial governments have set the wrong priorities regarding health?

[Allan Rock, Liberal, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I identified what the priority was for the federal government, that is, to strengthen the health system in Canada, especially in the area of home care.

I said yesterday that, in the months to come, I intend to work with my partners at the provincial level, my provincial counterparts, to find a way to meet the challenge of home care and remedy obvious flaws in the current system in Canada. That is what the priority is for the Government of Canada.