Madam Speaker, I have a two part question for the hon. member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca.
The first part is in respect to his suggestion of two tier health care. He has been up front about this. He says that yes, there should be one tier for those who can afford to buy their way into it, a private health care system for those who can afford to buy their way into that, parallel to the public health care system. Of course we know that this would ultimately destroy the very fundamental principle of medicare, which is that one does not jump to the front of the queue based on the size of one's pocketbook.
The member has been very clear on that. I am not sure that all of his colleagues have agreed with him on that, but certainly he wants to run for leader of whatever the name of the party is, the Reform Party or some other manifestation, the new Canadian alliance, or CCRAP, or whatever it might be. He wants to run for the leadership of the party based on that principle.
As a doctor the member must surely recognize that in a time of shortages and scarcity in health care resources, and the member has talked about a shortage of nurses, a shortage of doctors, shortages of resources in the public health care system, that if we drain that already starved system of resources, if doctors are going into his private clinics, if nurses are going into the private clinics that the good doctor is prescribing, surely that will cause the public health care system to erode. It will weaken that system which is exactly what we saw in the United Kingdom.
Second and very briefly, does the member not recognize and understand that under the provisions of NAFTA, if we open up health care in Alberta under bill 11 to private health care providers as Ralph Klein is suggesting, that this will then mean that private health care providers will have access under NAFTA right across Canada? If we deny them that access they will be able to challenge under the provisions of NAFTA. They will be entitled to massive compensation under the provisions of NAFTA. This too will lead to the destruction of our universal health care system.
How can he stand and say that on the one hand he believes in medicare when on the other hand he is supporting a two tier health care system that will destroy universal health care in this country?