Mr. Speaker, we heard a lot of motherhood, a lot of status quo and a lot of comparison to the U.S. system which no Canadian wants. Why even talk about it? It keeps coming out.
The real question is that today we spend $86 billion in public money in total on health care. The projections of Health Canada are that it will increase at 3%. That means that by the year 2020 we will be spending $160 billion on health care.
We want the new technology. We want the new medications. We want all that. The Premier of Newfoundland says he is already spending 42% of his budget on health care. Other provinces say they are spending 30% of their budgets on health care. What is the right amount to be spent on health care? If we are to spend $160 billion, what about all the other things government has to do?
The minister talked about the system not being in crisis, but 78% of Canadians say that the system is in crisis. The people are saying that. The only people who do seem to be hearing it are the politicians.