Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased and honoured to be able to present a petition that has been signed by thousands of Canadians.
This is a very timely petition. It gives the government some critical advice at an important juncture especially facing the initiatives we have heard this past couple of weeks from Ralph Klein in Alberta.
The petitioners call on the federal government to preserve and enforce the Canada Health Act, the foundation of medicare in every province and region of Canada, and maintain the five principles of medicare: universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness and non-profit administration.
They call on the government to guarantee national standards of quality, publicly-funded health care for every Canadian citizen as a right.