Mr. Speaker, I wish to congratulate the member on his motion. I know that it stems from a sensitivity to our elders, who certainly acted on the strength of their convictions in World War I and even World War II, although certain historians claim that, strictly speaking, it was all one war.
So that there is no misunderstanding, I would like to go over the motion once again. The Reform Party member is moving:
That, in the opinion of this House, the government should institute national standards for veterans' health care with maintenance and special needs provisions, and have these standards agreed upon by all provinces before devolving responsibilities to any province for any portion of care.
I think that in our respective ridings we all have veterans who come to us about the deteriorating health care system and the various administrative difficulties they are experiencing. But it seems to me that there is a problem with the motion being suggested.
First of all, the assumption is made that management of veterans services is an exclusively federal jurisdiction. Even though funding for access to health care comes from the federal government, the fact remains that the services people receive are often provided by the various provincial health care systems.
It is difficult for us to support national standards. True, we already have the Canada Health Act, which is somewhat of a paradox. When one looks at the constitutional distribution of powers, one realizes that, except for the military aspect and for quarantine, the federal government has little responsibility with regard to health.
Mr. Speaker, allow me to salute my colleague, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Health, who always seems interested when I make a speech. I am not so pretentious as to think he is a member of my fan club, but I do think he is a friend.
I was talking about the paradox of having a national health act when the Constitution gives the federal government very little responsibility with regard to health since it is only responsible for the health of veterans and for any issues related to quarantine and to mechanisms to prevent contagion.
Even though the federal government does not have primary responsibility with regard to health, it has a Department of Health employing several thousand public servants.
The Canada Health Act promotes the five following principles: universality, portability, comprehensiveness and public administration, and of course universality. These principles are the main features of our national legislation on the health care system. Of course, we believe that these principles have merit, but that it is primarily the provinces that must ensure the comprehensiveness, the universality, the public character, and the portability of the health care system.
In other words, no matter in what region, in Quebec or in the rest of Canada, people must be sure to have access to health care.
We would readily have agreed. The Reform member who, I know, is greatly concerned by these issues should know this: we would certainly have supported a motion asking the federal government to restore transfer payments for health. But when this government becomes history, we will never forget that, through its policies, its unilateral cuts, from 1993 to 2001, this government cut several billion dollars in health care alone. This must be said to all those who are listening today. On the whole, transfer payments were reduced by $42 billion, and nearly a third of that was cut from health care, and for Quebec alone, it was $4 billion.
Lucien Bouchard, the Premier of Quebec, one of its great premiers, is certainly one of the most gifted men of his generation. I believe that, if I called for unanimous consent, I would get it, acknowledging Lucien Bouchard as certainly one of the most gifted men of his generation.
At the first ministers conference, the Premier of Quebec reminded the others that, Quebec alone had had $4 billion cut from health. I believe that we need to make the connection with the position the premiers adopted and the motion our Reform Party colleague is proposing. If we are to provide better care to our fellow citizens who served on the battlefield because of their convictions, adopting national standards is not the way to do it. I repeat, however, that this objective is an eminently desirable one. The way to do it is to reinvest in the health care systems existing in the provinces.
I am dying to see what is in the budget. I shall be here on Monday, February 28, of this year of our Lord 2000 AD, in order to find out what the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance have to say. This will be a historical responsibility; all members are going to follow the budget speech.
We know very well that it will not be possible, whether in the specific case of care for veterans or the case of all those covered by the health system who end up in the emergency departments, in the CLSCs, in the institutions. The people in those places know that the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance need to speak the truth and redress the wrongs of the past.
Let me say that the Quebec government, which is one of the best ever, wants to offer health services to our fellow citizens, but is being deprived of several billions of dollars because the federal government, suddenly and without negotiating with the provinces, acted unilaterally. Do you know what “unilaterally” means? It means a one-sided decision. The federal government without negotiating with the provinces deprived them in a cavalier fashion of several billions of dollars. As I said, we appreciate the motion.
I think that the hon. member, who is the chair of the Standing Committee on Health and who is said to be a strong supporter of the Minister of Health for future events, will join me in asking his government to exert pressure and to make money available in the Minister of Finance's budget, so that the provinces can meet the needs of all their clienteles, including the veterans.
Again, I thank the hon. member for being sensitive to this issue, but we do not believe that the solution lies in national standards.
I cannot, as a Bloc Quebecois member who is highly respected by his peers on all sides of the House, support the idea of national standards. This would not be in agreement with our vision. I would go against my own principles.
I will conclude by asking all members of this House to ensure that transfer payments are restored, to make sure that the provinces, which are responsible for the health care system, can meet the needs of all their clienteles, including the veterans, with new moneys. This is our position on that motion.