Mr. Speaker, that the Liberal's allow Alberta's bill 11 to go unanswered is absolutely shameful.
As early as March the NDP tried to table a legal opinion that showed concrete examples of how bill 11 violates the Canada Health Act, but the Liberals blocked us. Our legal opinion says that the enhanced service provisions of bill 11 violate the accessibility principle of medicare because patients can choose an enhanced level of service.
By upgrading the service to include extras, the service then becomes uninsured. Since speed and quality of service would vary according to ability to pay, this creates a two tier system and, as such, violates the accessibility principle in exactly the same way the Calgary eye clinics violate it, and yet for four years the Liberals have not enforced the act on the eye clinics because of the secret 12 point deal.
The fact remains that existing violations go unpunished, bill 11 goes unanswered and the health care system goes to rot under the minister's watch.
The Canada health care system needs a champion. If the minister cannot stand up to Ralph Klein, he should step down, resign and let somebody with courage and conviction take the helm.