Mr. Speaker, the second part of the member's question is an important one and should be addressed in the House, especially by the government.
The government I sat with in the 1980s, the Mulroney years, ran on a day to day basis a balance sheet, and that is factual. What strangled that government was that it did not lay a nickel on the debt. It was the compound interest on the debt that strangled the government.
I know in western Canada it has ridden the hobby horse for the last 10 years, but that hobby horse's legs are just about ready to collapse. History will record that it was the compounded interest on the debt. That is why I used the analogy of the individual and his or her credit. When it reaches a point where the compound interest cannot be paid on the debt, we are in trouble. That is the position the Government of Canada was in in the 1980s right into the 1990s. We are barely getting out of that. There is more the government can do in terms of tax relief to grow the economy.
The member is absolutely right about the medication. The definition of illness or what qualifies us for Canada pension and medications, in terms of the families ability to wipe that off and receive compensation from the government, has to be considered.
I remind the member that in 1997 the present government, in fact, the Prime Minister and his team, campaigned on a promise of bringing in a pharmacare program. Talk about irresponsibility. They cannot even pay the bills in the health care system today or support the health care system to the level we as Canadians would expect. At the same time, they campaigned on the promise of a pharmacare program that they had no intention of fulfilling nor had the capacity to fulfil. The health minister is still on that same bent and talks about designer programs. The health minister has his pet projects but knows full well that the system is broken.
I think they have to get the fundamentals right and working before they start talking about new programs. Canadians want health care. In fact, they want a good health care system and are willing to pay for it. They do not want the minister tinkering with a system that would work given the chance.
We have to remind the member as well that primary health care is the responsibility of the provinces. Under the Canada Health Act, all the health minister can do is secure funding for the provinces and hope that they live by the five principles of the act. This was an act that the government introduced about 20 years ago. Now, in terms of its responsibilities, it is attempting to unravel and climb out from underneath it.
There is more the government can do. Health care is the number one issue on the mind of every Canadian. They are looking for leadership on that side of House but there has been an absence of that on this issue. We do not want to get off this point, but when this budget was introduced, I knew it was not an election budget. Why? The money that has been dedicated to health care and education in this budget would keep our system running from coast to coast for three days.
I have not addressed that need but we are looking for some leadership on that side of the House.