Mr. Speaker, as I said in my remarks, health has been a shared jurisdiction in this country. The federal government very clearly respects the role of the provincial and territorial governments to plan, to manage, to administer and to deliver health services within their jurisdiction.
The Canada Health Act clearly defines the criteria, the principles and also the conditions upon which federal funds are transferred to the provinces. This partnership is one which I believe is supported overwhelmingly by a majority of Canadians across the country. It binds the country together. I think that any party in the House who attempted to scrap the Canada Health Act would be punished on election day by Canadians because we value Canadian medicare. We value the Canadian approach to delivery of health services. We value the foundation of the Canada Health Act which says that we share and we care for one another, that access to needed health services is not dependent upon one's financial status and that if one is sick in Canada we will care for them.
The federal government has a very clear and defined role and responsibility in the area of health promotion and disease prevention. The federal government has a very clearly defined role in the delivery of services to specific groups of people whom I mentioned in my remarks. Those people, as an example, are the Inuit, our first nations and other groups. We also have a responsibility to bring together provincial and territorial leaders, as is occurring today, to discuss issues of national concern, national priority. As we know, health care is a national priority for this government and health care and health care issues are a concern for people across this country.
Therefore, it is very appropriate for us in the House today to reaffirm our respect for provincial and territorial jurisdiction. We do that, but at the very same time we acknowledge the important role that the federal government has played through the Canada Health Act, and the acts before it, in establishing medicare, a model for health care delivery unique among the countries of the world and one which has helped to make Canadians among the healthiest and I believe among the most envied people on this planet.