I will not repeat what the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve said jokingly, but he too must be commended for his exceptional work to improve a bill which could be a good piece of legislation for Canadians and Quebecers, for researchers in health and bioethics, etc. However, given the narrow-minded obstruction tactics used by members opposite, these efforts will unfortunately be useless if Liberal members do not show some openness.
Earlier, the hon. member for Frontenac—Mégantic said that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health should be able to inform his minister, since he is from Quebec and has a clear understanding of Quebec's concerns and freedoms, which he defended for a long time, even going to jail for a few months in the process. The Bloc Quebecois' message is aimed primarily at him. I have also listened to the speeches of the opposition parties. Not just the Bloc Quebecois' message but the opposition speeches in general are aimed at him.
Regardless of party, Reform, Conservative, or New Democratic, we are all agreed that the bill is fine in principle. It is only normal that more money be invested in research and development. However, for reasons that differ for each party, the bill as it now stands is not acceptable.
As the member for Rimouski—Mitis said earlier, the Bloc Quebecois agrees with the principle of creating institutes of health research. The Bloc Quebecois also agrees that research and development budgets should be increased. But the Bloc Quebecois does not agree with the bill in its present form for the reasons stated over and over again by all parties, more specifically by the Bloc Quebecois, because, among other things, of the blatant intrusion into provincial jurisdiction.
We are proposing a number of amendments, as are all the opposition parties, designed primarily to ensure that jurisdictions are respected, not to change the core purpose of the bill, which is to provide assistance to research and development and to increase research and development grants, but to respect the Canadian Constitution and the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments.
I will quote from the bill. As it now stands, it refers to an interest in health. “Health” is vague, and we know that the wording of a bill absolutely must be very clear.
This is why the main thrust of our amendments is to change the expression “an interest in health” to “an interest in research”, because the purpose of the bill is to establish research institutes. When someone knocks at the door and says “trust me”—my colleagues have already been very eloquent on this—it is hard to trust someone who does not just put a foot in the door but pushes in all the way, both feet, both hands and so on, into areas of jurisdiction reserved for the provinces.
We have an absolute duty to delineate a clear definition of what a research institute is and what its objective is. Its objective, as set out in Bill C-13 introduced by the Liberals and analyzed by all the parties, is too vague. We want this research institute to really deal with research.
If the government wants to invest money in this research institute, it might need reminding of our major concerns about finances. Before reinjecting money into research, which is, as I said, something with which we are totally in agreement, the government needs to be reminded of its poor financial record.
For the fiscal year 1999-2000, which is about to end, it is estimated that Quebec alone had a shortfall of close to $1.7 billion under the Canadian social transfer. This shortfall for the year 1999-2000—and I am not talking about all of Canada, only Quebec—amounts to $850 million per year in the health sector alone.
One can imagine how much easier negotiating with Quebec nurses would have been if this $850 million had been available to the Quebec government, if the provincial government had not been deprived of that money by the federal government.
Similarly, imagine how helpful it would have been to have an additional $850 million for health when so many people had the flu and emergency rooms were overcrowded in Quebec, and also elsewhere in Canada. It is important to remember that.
Looking back not just to the last year, but since this government took office in 1993, we see that Quebec's health sector has not suffered a shortfall of $850 million, but of $3.4 billion.
This is what enabled Jean Charest, the Quebec Liberal Party leader, to say “Who is responsible for the problems in the health sector? It is not Lucien Bouchard, it is not Mike Harris, it is the current Prime Minister, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance”.
This statement was not made by a mean separatist. It was made by Jean Charest during the leaders' debate, adding, in reference to this $3.4 billion in cuts to health over a seven year period, that, as far as he was concerned, the main responsibility lies with the people across the Ottawa River.
As concerns the first group of amendments presented here, I believe the bill must refer especially, as I said, to health research and not to the health care system and services to the public.
The current minister, in an open letter today to La Presse, expresses his considerable concern about becoming directly involved in home care and in public health care. However, throughout the bill, reference is made not only simply to health research but more generally to health.
So the amendments introduced by the Bloc Quebecois serve to make it clear that the bill applies to health research and not to the potential expansion of mandates beyond such research.
They are intended to make sure that the decisions related to the choice and principle underlying the health networks and services to the public are exclusively under the aegis of the provinces and within appropriate jurisdictions.
Given that there was the bill establishing the medical research council, which the research institutes will replace, or, in the field of education, the bill establishing the Canadian council on social sciences and the humanities, we can see that the distribution of jurisdictions may be respected without watering down Bill C-13.
No one wants the wheel to be reinvented. What we are saying is that there are two councils with jurisdiction in this area. Therefore, we are asking the government to honour and implement what has already been done. The government's bill is ignoring the distribution of powers. It negates the federal principle.
When the federal government wants to administer everything and we see how badly it administers money allocated to Human Resources Development Canada, we can see that the Bloc Quebecois' amendments must be accepted so that the provinces, in their individual jurisdictions, may administer until the moment we have full jurisdiction over all our powers in Quebec.