Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question. I am very interested in the country's health care system.
The federal government in proposing the universal medicare system a number of years ago did indeed shoulder its fair share of the load. At that point it was contributing some 50% of the moneys for health care. Like many other good things that over the years turn progressively worse, the health care system has deteriorated because the federal government has failed to live up to that initial obligation. The hon. member is quite right. It is down to 13% and less now in terms of actual funding.
In terms of equalization payments, what we have here is another inequitable system that is based on a very abstract and complex way of figuring it out. Over the years it has not done justice to balancing across the nation the need for fairness in our taxation system, in the amount of money that government provides for people and for the health care system itself. I would certainly say that the government and all of us as legislators here in the House should be giving far more thought to the reform of this system.