Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment on some of the statements made by the member for New Brunswick Southwest. He talked about Mike Harris. Mike Harris made some choices. He said his priority was tax cuts.
Last year our government put $11.5 billion into health care and this year we are putting in another $2.5 billion. We hear about the investments the Ontario government has made in health care. They are one time severances. They are one time restructuring costs because the health care system has been gutted. The Harris government laid off 10,000 nurses and a couple of years later hired them back on. I guess that is why the Harris government has to increase the budget of the health care ministry in the province of Ontario.
I am staggered and I am sure the hon. member if he were candid would also be staggered by the way the health care system is used. There are people at different levels of the health care system and they are not really at the appropriate level. If we could move people from acute care hospital beds to a lower cost delivery system, it would save the health care system millions of dollars.
I would like to make one final point. Let it be clear that once the health minister has sat down with his colleagues, we are also prepared to come to the table with more cash.