Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague. I recognize that she was speaking as if there were a real commitment on behalf of the government to support a public health care system and that there was no way it would allow for profit medicare or health care within our system. However, the reality is that there has been a decrease in funding.
The government is not funding health care to the degree it was a number of years ago. There is not the 50:50 sharing with the provinces. It is not happening. That is not accurate. The government is not doing it. As a result, the provinces make the choice as to whether they want to go ahead and start charging for this or not covering that, instead of having a system where over time we improve it and where we continually benefit Canadians with increased services that are covered.
I want to comment on the point of what Canadians want to see. Canadians have made it perfectly clear a number of times when governments of the past have gone to them and asked what they wanted to see in health care. They have already told the governments. Where have the governments been? Why have they not been listening?
Canadians have said that they want a universal health care system. They want a national pharmacare program. They want national home care standards. If people have never heard that they should get their ears to an ENT and get them cleaned out. That is what Canadians have said loud and clear. They have said that they want a national system. They want national standards. They want to be able to move from one province to the other and get those services. That is not possible.
How can my hon. colleague stand behind her statement of what the government believes in if it is not willing to put an equal share of dollars on the table for the provinces?