Mr. Speaker, the government just released its response to the organ donor crisis in our country. What an enormous disappointment it was. With 150 Canadians dying every year waiting for a transplant and with one of the worst donor rates in the entire developed world, it took the government four months to respond, during which time 66 Canadians died.
The government's solution to this crisis is to ponder it, study it and examine it, despite the fact that there is a 13 point federal-provincial agreement and despite the fact that the health committee put forth an exhaustive, doable plan to save Canadian lives.
Why was there no commitment to have a national registry for potential donors and recipients? Why was there no commitment to train and identify organ donor co-ordinators? Why was there no commitment to have a national effort to put an organ donor card on every single patient's chart in our country?
If this government cannot resolve the organ donor crisis which is really a motherhood issue, what hope is there that it will have a chance to resolve the more complex health care challenges?