Mr. Speaker, I have enjoyed the debate on health care today. It is healthy for us to get down to the nitty-gritty of what makes the health care system work.
These days we are remembering the first anniversary of the death of my aunt who was in a publicly funded hospital in Saskatchewan. I wanted to say that because otherwise people would think that this has to be Ralph Klein's fault. But she was in Saskatchewan, the home of medicare. Basically she got terrible care. I hate to say this but it is true. She fell out of bed after having a stroke, not once, not twice, not three times but four times because there was no staff available. When she rang for help no one came. Finally she tried to get out of bed herself in order to go to the washroom and she fell and injured herself terribly.
Finally her family said enough of this. They moved her from that publicly funded hospital to a care centre that is operated by a religious organization. She got excellent care there until she passed away about a year ago.
No matter how we cut it, there is deep trouble in the public health care system when for whatever reason, and whether it is the federal or the provincial government that is involved, there is not enough money to hire enough staff so that people who are in hospital can be looked after in a reasonable fashion. It is atrocious that the Liberal government with all its cuts to health care has hampered the ability of provinces like Saskatchewan to provide health care for its citizens.
Provinces simply do not have the money. They are still forced to send taxpayers' dollars to Ottawa and they do not get them back in proportion. I would like the hon. member to comment on the actual funding part of it.