Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address the motion today. Let us remember what is important for Canadians. This issue comes down to access to high quality care in our public and universal system.
Canadians value our health care system above all other social programs and it is what sets us apart from other countries around the world. To achieve that, Canadians expect governments to work together, openly and with transparency. A lot of work has been done between the federal, provincial and territorial governments in the past, and that is how this government intends to approach the health care system renewal now and in the future.
In the last two years alone much concrete work has been done to lay the foundation for sustaining Canada's health care system and the health of Canadians. In September 1998 the federal health minister, with provincial and territorial ministers of health, agreed to a number of key federal, provincial and territorial priorities to facilitate governments working more closely and collaboratively. Ministers identified the following future directions and key priorities and emphasized the need to achieve concrete results and improve accountability to Canadians.
Ministers agreed to joint action on maintaining a financially sustainable, publicly funded Canadian health care system; supporting high quality, integrated and continuing community based health services; implementing population approaches to improve the health of Canadians; promoting the development and efficient use of information and research technology, and planning and reporting systems; and, collaborating in areas such as health, human resource planning, identifying best service practices, research evaluation, primary care reform and public health policy.
At their 1999 September meeting, federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health reviewed the work accomplished and noted concrete progress on their joint priorities. They endorsed intensified collaborative work in primary care reform as an essential element to ensuring the sustainability and accessibility of our health care system; tasked federal, provincial and territorial officials with preparing options for strengthening the development of the health human resource professionals; and, undertook to improve collaboration between governments and health care providers.
As part of that commitment, last November the Minister of Health co-chaired meetings of health ministers and representatives of the medical and nursing professions. Furthermore, in the past year federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health released by significant reports on the health of Canadians and the importance of investing in early childhood development; endorsed a national strategy for collaborative action on tobacco controls in Canada; released several reports on pharmaceutical issues to ensure that drug prices are fair and reasonable, and that drugs are prescribed and used appropriately; and, approved the establishment of a council of organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Madam Speaker, I also point out that I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Waterloo—Wellington.
Provincial ministers of health noted that the federal-provincial-territorial ministers meetings in the fall of 1999 were productive. They supported strategic direction in the ministers' key priority areas such as sustainability of the health care system, health human resources and preparation for an aging population. Today, 12% of Canadians are now over the age of 65. This is obviously a very important area and initiative we will work on with our provincial and territorial colleagues. This is only a partial accounting of the depth and breadth of the federal-provincial-territorial collaboration of the health sector on important health issues.
The government is committed and dedicated to working with the provinces and territories to find common solutions to ensure the future of the publicly funded health care system for the benefit of Canadians. I stress that does not mean that as important and complex issues are being considered, there is not room for different points of view to be expressed and for open and frank discussions to take place. Our focus is to renew the public health care system. Working together on joint objectives and priorities, consultation, and transparent information sharing are some of the ways to strengthen the collaborative partnership. This is what the government will continue to do.
The Prime Minister and the health minister have spoken about the Government of Canada's commitment to sustaining, strengthening and preserving public health care in Canada. The federal minister is actively working with provincial and territorial ministers to lay the groundwork for an agreement on health by first ministers this fall. The federal minister has had positive one on one discussions with provincial and territorial ministers. He is speaking with them collaboratively this week to continue their dialogue and to set out a concrete plan of action to prepare recommendations on health for the first ministers' consideration.
We are confident that this important work will succeed in ensuring that the kinds of broad innovations that are necessary to renew health care in this country are put in place with the support of all governments acting together in the interest of all Canadians.