Mr. Speaker, this government stands committed to the principles of the Canada Health Act, as I have stated on numerous occasions.
We believe that access to necessary services should be based on health need and not on one's ability to pay. There is very clearly a constitutional responsibility for the provinces to deliver services.
There is also a responsibility for the provinces to do the planning and the managing of the resources in their provinces. The problems the member has identified are a result of stresses and strains the provinces have had over the years.
With the budget of February 16 we have seen the biggest single investment this government has ever made, some $11.5 billion over the next five years. The budget clearly demonstrates this government's commitment to defending medicare. We are also defending access to quality care and ensuring that care is given to all those who need it regardless of their ability to pay.
Let me remind the hon. member that over the next five years $11.5 billion will be available. What is needed is more than money. What is needed is a more accountable, more integrated way of delivering services. The federal government has shown a leadership role in bringing together all the provinces, arriving at a health agreement.
I say to the member who has raised the principle of public administration that the NDP would have government run everything under the mandate of public administration. What we have in Canada today is a publicly funded but not government run method of delivery. The provinces have stewardship but they determine what partnerships they will engage, the corporate structures of their hospitals and their providers.
If people are dissatisfied with the way their health system has evolved, they must go to their provincial governments and say they are dissatisfied. Each province has done it differently and that is appropriate.
The role for the federal government is one, an important funding partner and two, the guardian of the Canada Health Act. We want to ensure that health services and the outcomes therefore are more accountable and the provinces develop a real system, more integrated models where people work together to ensure that when the people of Canada need care, they will get the care they need without having to pay for it.