Mr. Speaker, this is a good question. In 1995, the current Minister of Finance cut more than $6 billion from Canada's national health program. This is in sync with the policy being put forward by the Reform Party.
The Minister of Finance, who is not a member of the Reform Party, made the worst cuts ever to health care, at the national level.
I remember very well when the national health program was introduced under Mr. Pearson. The CCF with Woodrow Lloyd and Tommy Douglas, from my province of Saskatchewan, were the first ones to come up with the idea. It was created at the national level by Mr. Pearson, a true Liberal. A true small “l” liberal, not a capital “L” Liberal like the ones we have today. At the time, the provinces and the federal government came to an agreement whereby the federal government would pay one half of the costs of the national health program, and the provinces, the other half.
Where do we stand today? The federal government only pays 12% or 13% of the costs. There is no national unity. Our country has no great vision. Where are the old Liberals? Where is the old Liberal Party of Pierre Trudeau, of Mr. Pearson, of Laurier and King? Where is that Liberal Party?
That Liberal Party has vanished completely. There is not a lot of difference now between the Liberal Party and the Mr. Manning's Reform Party. They are just about the same. We are stuck here with a government that is more conservative than Brian Mulroney's government was. Brian Mulroney never did such a thing. The government of the current Prime Minister is the only one to blame here.