Mr. Speaker, I am tempted to put a rather rhetorical question to the member, having listened to his very thoughtful remarks, and ask whether Liberal members of parliament were put through a workshop before this debate where they were all trained to express grave concern and then make excuses for the inaction of their government.
It is fine for us to call for co-operative, thoughtful approaches at the federal-provincial level, but are we really prepared to forsake medicare in the interest of keeping peace at the federal-provincial table no matter what the consequences?
If in fact we could believe for one minute that the member's government would be prepared to act immediately upon a violation of the Canada Health Act given bill 11, how can we wait for one second knowing the consequences under NAFTA? Is it not better to be safe than sorry? Is it not better to take every precaution now and amend the act so that there is no possibility of this bill opening the door so that multinational American corporations are able to enter our health care sector in Canada and provide hospital services?