Madam Speaker, the reason we need this amendment is we cannot trust the Liberals to look after our health care system.
We used to have a Canada assistance plan that reflected the needs of the regions. It would match health care. It would match education. It would match social assistance. That is no longer in place. We have a Canada health transfer that is a chunk of money which the provinces can do with whatever they like. A sympathetic provincial government will make sure there is health care.
Systematically Liberal decisions and policies have undermined health care and now we are in a position where we are forced to debate whether or not we will have health care in our country. At their convention the Liberals passed a resolution that Canada would ensure a national standard of health care for all Canadians.
We are chipping away at the foundation instead of putting in the windows and doors of our health care system. We are not providing pharmacare. We are not providing home care. Health care in rural and remote areas is not a given. There may be a health station in these areas which is what is in Old Crow. It is an incredibly expensive flight to get out. You may see a doctor once a month or you may not. We have a situation where the Canadian Medical Association says that for Canadians the CHST has meant and continues to mean less federal government commitment to our health care system and has compromised the federal government's ability to preserve and enhance national standards.
It went on to say that the accumulated reductions now total $18.9 billion, that the government is giving back 1.5% of the total reductions in cash payments to the provinces, and that this is supposed to fix the mess that has been made. Another comment was that the CHST cash payments need to factor in other things than just the economy, such as the age of the population.
Our elderly parents and elders in our communities are not going to go away. We know that elderly people need more health care. Sick children are not going to go away. Mothers and fathers are still going to have to stay home to look after those children. When they do that, it is a cost to our economy and to our society.
We need a mechanism that will hold the Liberal government to account so that it does not continue cutting and sneaking its cuts in through the back door. Canadians everywhere want a health care system they can count on. If the government cannot go at it by direct cuts—and it was forced to stop cutting and not putting anything back—it is going to go at it another way around.
The recommendation of the Canadian Medical Association is to increase the amount. The government should take in a combination of factors such as technology, economic growth, population growth and demographics. The government should establish national targets, what our health care will be, where we will go with it and what we will do with it.
Obviously we cannot give the government a free hand because we know what it does with it. It tears our medical system apart. We want a mechanism to hold it accountable, whatever government is in place, to a standard of medical care that we can all be proud of. Then we can rest at night knowing that no one will die in a corridor or on the street because we did not care enough to make sure the money was there to look after them.