Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Macleod for his very well delivered and factual presentation on this budget. He is a particular expert in the area of health care, being a licenced physician for many years.
I would like to ask a question of the member. The government has indeed promised to put $11.5 billion back into health care funding which brings it back to the 1995 level. This is over a five year period.
Demographics clearly show that we have an aging population. As well, as we grow older our demands on the health care system dramatically increase. Five years from now when the $11.5 billion is used up, will the aging population create a demand on the health care system such that we will find ourselves right where we started again because of the increased demand on the health care system? Is there any chance, given the way we are moving to a greater dependency on health care, the 200,000 waiting list has any hope of being shrunk under this Liberal formula?