Mr. Speaker, fortunately, I have relatives who have been living in the United States for approximately 45 years. I have talked about standing here today and being disappointed at having to fight for health care. One of the interesting discussions that I continue to have with my relatives is that they do not understand what this government is doing. They have been south of the border for 45 years looking at Canada and saying “My God, we wish we had what you have”. I have an uncle who fortunately was not seriously ill but who had to be hospitalized for three days. I think the bill totalled something like $8,000. It does concern me and it should concern all Canadians.
Unfortunately, we recently had a medical crisis in my family. My mother-in-law had three heart attacks in three days. The doctors put her on a nitroglycerine intravenous so they could hold her over for the Easter weekend before they did a triple bypass because of the shortage of staff, the shortage of surgeons and the cost to do the surgery. We sat around for four days and prayed that she would not take that one massive heart attack and not make it to the surgery table. That is a reality every day in this country.
As my colleague indicated, what will happen to a single mother if she has to pay for health care? I had a case in my riding where a single mother went to a pharmacy with her two young children who were sick but, fortunately, not seriously sick. As any mother knows, when our kids are sick we are worried and concerned. The pharmacist called me because he was so disturbed. The single mother asked him if he could tell her which one of her children was the sickest because she only had enough money for the medicine for one. The pharmacist told me that he gave her enough medication for two and that he did not care if he lost his licence because he was able to sleep well with himself. Imagine a mother having to decide which one of her kids would get the medication.
We are at the tip of the iceberg if this government does not stand up and act now to give Canadians what Canadians are clearly telling this government and this House that they want. They are saying clearly that they do not want two tier for profit health care.