With pride, says the Secretary of State for International Financial Institutions. He says with pride government members support these cutbacks to the health care system by the Minister of Finance.
I invite the minister to go to Regina, Kamsack, Moose Jaw and many other places in Saskatchewan and say that he is proud of these cutbacks, that he is proud of the consequences of the cutbacks to health care. I can show him emergency rooms where people are lined up, where people are on waiting lists for surgery. Hospitals have closed because of the cutbacks in federal spending. The minister across the way said the government is doing that with pride and with pride it is cutting back on transfers to the provinces.
I would like to see the minister get up in the question and answer period in a few minutes and explain why he is so proud of the cutbacks that are hurting people. Certainly that is not what this parliament had decided many years ago in terms of spending in this particular area. And he said it was done with pride.
The cutbacks are more draconian than what we saw with the Tories under Brian Mulroney or previous Tory governments. One of the consequences of these cutbacks will be the initiation of private, two tier Americanized medicare. We are seeing that today in the province of Alberta with Ralph Klein and Bill 11. One reason he is doing it is because of the tremendous cutbacks by the federal government. If it happens in Alberta, it will happen in Ontario with Mike Harris. It will spread across the country because of the cutbacks by the federal government in terms of transfers to the provinces for health care.
The budget a few weeks ago had a $58 billion tax cut. Our party is saying that some cuts in taxes are needed, but about 25% of the government surplus should go into tax cuts and about 75% in the program expenditures on behalf of ordinary people. The tax cut should be the reduction of the GST.
I noticed at the Liberal convention a couple of days ago that the ordinary delegates passed a motion to start cutting back on the GST. Again the government is not listening in terms of its tax cut package.
Most of the surplus should be going into government programs and government spending, in particular into health care. We are saying that over the next couple of years there should be an increase in transfers of $5.5 billion that will eventually get us up to the federal government sharing the spending on a 50:50 basis with the provinces in terms of health care.
When medicare was first introduced the federal government paid 50 cents on the dollar and the provinces paid 50 cents on the dollar for health care. Today under a so-called Liberal government, the federal government is paying some 13 cents or 14 cents in terms of cash transfers. In terms of cash transfers, that is 13% or 14%. It is not just me who is saying that. Every premier is saying it. The premiers are saying that we will need a massive injection of federal money to save the health care system.
We all know that health care is now the most important issue facing the country. We all hear about it. Liberal delegates were saying it the other day. The public opinion polls are saying it. Even the Reform Party is getting on the bandwagon and is talking about health care.
We will have to put some federal money into the system to save health care in addition to what has been done already. We have the money and the resources to do it. If we do not do it, we will end up with a two tier system that will lead to the erosion and the destruction of medicare and health care.
There are a lot of people advocating it. Just the other day the Reform Party's finance critic said on CBC television that we should be looking at some private sector solutions to health care. The member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca said a similar thing in the press a few days ago. Ralph Klein is saying the same thing in the province of Alberta. Here we have a party in the movement that is now advocating two tier health care and it is being aided and abetted by the federal government, which has cut back massively in terms of transfers to the provinces for health care and education.
In my province of Saskatchewan alone over the next four years under this budget there will only be an additional $80 million going into health care from the federal government. That is enough to keep our health care system going for three or four days. That is one reason in our province, like any other province, there is a great strain on the system. There have been cutbacks in the services that should be provided. There are waiting lists for surgery, lineups in emergency rooms and so on.
I appeal to the government to look very seriously at substantially increasing transfers to the provinces for health care and education.