Madam Speaker, there is no question that this debate is more important than any other matter we are dealing with in terms of the future of the country. Universal public health care is the defining characteristic of Canada. It is a unifying force. It is the way we ensure that the Canadian values of compassion and caring, of co-operation and community are translated into action.
There is no question that over the last few years under this government we have lost much of what gives us a sense of Canadian identity. We have lost much of our nationhood. We have lost many of the tools to control our own destiny and many of the programs which Canadians cherish. This debate is really about taking back Canada, about getting control over our own destiny and knowing that if we lose medicare we lose the ties that bind and we throw overboard completely the moral and social values without which our society would become a ruthless jungle.
Today we are at the crossroads. We are at the fork in the road. We are standing at the precipice. The direction we go in the days and weeks ahead will determine what path we take.
It is important to look at why we have medicare and what it means to Canadians. My leader pointed to Tommy Douglas, the founder of medicare, and said that the concept of medicare is about our values and our sense of fairness. I can think of no better way to get across that point than to go back to the words of Tommy Douglas, who said:
Had I been a rich man's son the services of the finest surgeons would have been available. As an iron moulder's boy, I almost had my leg amputated before chance intervened and a specialist cured me without thought of a fee. All my adult life I have dreamed of the day when an experience like mine would be impossible and we would have in Canada a program of complete medical care without a price tag. And that is what we aim to achieve—the finest health service available to everyone regardless of ability to pay.
In this debate it is also very important to look to our neighbours to the south, to look to the American model of health care. That is very much at the heart of this debate, and where we are headed unless the government is prepared to act today. Do we want a society like the United States, where some 43 million people are without any kind of access to medical services? Do we want a situation where families in this wealthy country of Canada make difficult decisions about whether to fill a prescription, take a sick child to the doctor, or get a regular checkup?
A few years back I had the opportunity to be on a fact finding mission in the United States. I was struck by the horror stories of what people had to endure because they did not have a universal public health care system. I was struck by one story of a woman who needed a liver transplant. Her health insurance plan did not cover this particular intervention. The family had to come up with $150,000 in cash just to get on the donors list. The first organ transplant did not take. The family needed another $50,000 cash to get on the donors list again. The woman who went through that operation died. The family was left facing a bill of $400,000, of which only a portion was covered by their insurance plan.
Do we want that kind of situation in Canada? Is that not where we are headed unless we can somehow convince the government to act and act now?
It is also important to remember what happens when governments delay, when political paralysis sets in and when we do not act immediately when the first signs of danger appear.
I want to go back to a speech made by Stanley Knowles in 1958 in Gimli, Manitoba. He said: “The Liberals promised health insurance in 1919 but had no intention of starting it until 1959”. Stanley Knowles had a good sense of humour. He went on to say:
Apparently, it was Mr. Mackenzie King's reading of the Bible, about the children of Israel having to wander in the wilderness for 40 years that prompted him to require the people of Canada to wander in the wilderness of high medical costs for 40 years before making even a start in this field.
Today we actually have the spectacle of the present Liberals having Canadians wander again in the wilderness and of creating the horrific possibility of losing medicare because of inaction and political paralysis. We are here today with this motion because we want the government to act.
The focus of our motion is a federal budget that has been universally condemned by health organizations from one end of the country to the other, and by every provincial premier responsible for delivering health services to Canadians. The daunting challenge before us today is to somehow give expression to the desperation, the anger and the grief of those who are forced to cope with the inadequacies of our health system, especially as they listened to the finance minister's message on Monday.
Those who are stretched and stressed to the breaking point, trying to care for themselves or finding a way to pay for care for their loved ones, are the people we are speaking on behalf of today; those who know in their hearts that with an improved, fully funded, comprehensive health system, someone they knew, someone they loved, could have lived a longer and better life. The motion today is about just that.
The motion today is about stopping the slide to two tier health care. The motion today is about stopping Ralph Klein, who at 3.45 p.m. today, eastern time, will stand in the Alberta legislature and introduce a bill to allow profit care in Canada's hospital system. That is the measure of this federal budget.
The budget is the green light to Premier Klein, Premier Harris and other advocates of two tier American style health care. It is no coincidence that Premier Klein waited until the Liberal budget came down. He knows there is no money to back all the Liberal talk. He says “Let us roll up our sleeves and get on with two tier medicine”.
It is no coincidence either that the day after the budget the Reform Party told Canadian TV viewers—and I quote from the finance critic for the Reform Party—“Obviously we are going to have to look beyond the money and start to entertain some private sector solutions”.
Canadians do not want American style health care. They know that for profit medicine is not going to answer their needs. Premier Klein has offered no proof that private for profit health care is any more efficient than public health care. The Minister of Health has refused to stand and take him on, do the right thing and stop private for profit health care before it is too late.
We know, and all the studies show, that private health care typically costs more, provides lower quality services and fewer services, reduces accessibility and fairness and drives up the public cost in other jurisdictions.
The motion before us today is about the future of medicare. It is an opportunity for the government to change course and do the right thing. Ever since the budget was delivered Liberals have been saying that they know this is not enough. Did they not know that before Monday? Did they not know there was a crisis? Why did they not act in this budget? Why are they waiting?
We have before us an opportunity to show that medicare could be a model for all countries in the new global economy. After all, when we are talking about medical care we are talking about our sense of values. Do we think human life is important? Do we think the best health care which is available is something to which people are entitled by virtue of belonging to a civilized country? The answer from Canadians is a resounding yes. The question is: Why can the Liberals not see it?
I move:
That the motion be amended by adding before the word “Canadian” the following:
“cherished”.