Mr. Speaker, let me say first that I could not agree more with the Minister of Health when he says that Canadians want this government and this minister to be more than just an arbiter of disputes and more than just an enforcer when provincial governments violate the principles of the Canada Health Act.
He then goes on in his usual way to talk about the importance of partnership. There is no government in the history of this country, since the introduction of the first steps of universal, not for profit health care, that has done more damage to the health care partnership than this government.
What clearer indication could there be than provincial governments of all political stripes from coast to coast to coast having said that if this government is sincere about wanting to restore the partnership, then it has to recognize that it cannot even claim the mantle of partnership when the federal government has reduced its contribution to health care funding from 50% to below 14%, and in some provinces, as low as 11%?
Canadians have already spoken. The minister, in his pious list of things that this government must do, said that we must listen to Canadians. Canadians have said that they want universal, not for profit, single tier health care protected and they want it protected it now. They want the federal government to recommit to the partnership, to rescind, to get rid of the duplicitous 12 point deal that it entered into secretly with Alberta, which opened the way for bill 11, and to enforce the Canada Health Act.
This means that when a government brings in a bill, such as bill 11, which so clearly and deliberately threatens the universality and the most important access principles of the Canada Health Act, then this government must take action.
The former minister of health, Monique Bégin, when there was an explosion of extra billing of user fees, did not hesitate to bring in legislative measures, and we did not hesitate to support her in that.
How can the minister think that an American solution is what Canadians want, if has he listened to them, when it is a Canadian health crisis created by the actions of this federal Liberal government?