Mr. Speaker, first of all I am quite prepared, as the Reform member suggested, to hold the federal government to account for the crisis we are facing in health care today.
He knows that we have constantly spoken out about the cuts made to transfer payments by the government and how that has put enormous pressure on the federal system and opened the door to private sector health care. He knows that we have called the government to task for signing an agreement with Alberta in 1996 which allowed for the growth of private clinics in that province.
Yes, I agree that we are seeing an appalling and abysmal lack of leadership from the federal government. However, I would also say that we are seeing an appalling lack of leadership from the leader of the member's own party. In fact, just two days ago the leader of the Reform Party in response to a question said “I think there is room from the federal angle to open up the Canada Health Act so that if the provinces want to pursue other options, including greater involvement of private resources, they have the freedom to do so”. What the Reform Party, Ralph Klein and Mike Harris are talking about is retreating, going back to the old way of doing things before we had medicare when if we had the money we could get the care we needed and, if not, tough luck.
The member is saying that we are in a crisis today and we agree with that. The question for all of us is, how do we solve the problem? I would suggest that the only way to solve the problem is to work to innovate and strengthen our public system and ensure that the medicare model is preserved, not destroyed as the Reform Party would have us do. He asked for alternatives and solutions. I suggest to him that there are many.
The National Forum on Health has made some very important observations about how to reform the system within the public model. It has talked about the need to look at a continuum of care and to move toward a community based model of holistic health care. It has talked about including home care, continuing care and drug care under our plan. That would address some of the costs and the pressures coming from the private sector. The New Democratic Party has put together a long set of recommendations and a very thoughtful analysis of this situation. I would be happy to share them with the member.
I would ask him to join with us in holding the government to account and preserving our publicly administered, universally accessible system, and not take one more step down the path of destroying and dismantling medicare.