Mr. Speaker, it has been an interesting debate. At the outset, I do want to thank the member and the party who introduced this motion. I think it is a motion worthy of debate and it is a motion that most of us on this side of the House can and will support. Let us take a look at the wording in the motion. I know the government has trouble with, but the motion reads:
That this House recognize that the health care system in Canada is in crisis—
The government has a problem with the word crisis, but there is no question that the system is in crisis.
I compare it to a home or a building burning down. At some point the fire can be put out and the structure saved. It is the same with our health care system. It is in a crisis and the truth is that on the government's watch it has done nothing to save it. It has not come up with any innovative ideas. Basically the government has been running on empty for seven years on this file. The truth is that it is responsible for the state of anxiety that we are seeing in our health care system from coast to coast.
We debated in the House bill 11 in Alberta. We are hoping the government will take a position on it one way or the other. The criticism we are throwing back at the government in relation to bill 11 is that it is forcing the provinces to perform radical surgery on their health care system. The reason for this is that they have been in an animated state of suspension since 1993. The provinces have no idea where we are going on the health care file.
Most premiers probably believed that the Liberal red book promises in 1993 or in 1997 would count for something. The Liberals promised to look after our cherished health care system, and obviously they have not. It is just one more red book promise they have not honoured.
Getting back to bill 11 in Alberta, it is simply a case of provinces doing what they have to do to salvage their health care system, to save their health care system.
You may know, Mr. Speaker, a bit about the policies and platforms of the NDP. From time to time I think you have made the statement that your party is sort of the father of health care. We could talk about Diefenbaker and the work that our party and the Liberal Party did. I think we all want to take credit for it, but the fact is that the NDP had a lot to do with the creation of health care in Canada. It is a basic reality and we all acknowledge it.
We want to preserve a health care system based on the five principles we often mention in this place: universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability and public administration. We want to preserve it, as does your party, Mr. Speaker. Horror of all horrors, yesterday in Saskatchewan, your home province, Premier Roy Romanow had to look this thing straight in the eye and say they had a problem and had to do something about it.
I will quote from the National Post . I know it is a newspaper that you and I do not have much love for from time to time, Mr. Speaker, but here is the story headlined “Health care under review in Saskatchewan”:
Commissioner appointed.
Premier looks to remodel system, keep the dream alive.
Saskatchewan, which created medicare nearly 40 years ago, is launching a far-reaching review of health care that will include an examination of what services should be publicly funded.
Most NDP members would have hid under their desks if they heard that a few years ago, and I would not have blamed them. The truth is that the federal government is forcing the provinces to do exactly what the Premier of Saskatchewan would have to do: take a hard look at their expenses, where they are going and whether they can sustain the system. My belief is that they cannot.
Following the 1993 election this government extracted $17 billion out of the system. If it is allowed to stay in office until the year of 2001, it will have taken $30 billion out of the system. No province, NDP, Liberal or Conservative, could live under that type of severe cutback to the funding of its health care system.
We must remember that the provinces are the primary health care givers. They depend on the federal government to help cost share health care. When it was introduced many years ago it was a 50:50 formula in which the federal government paid 50 cents on the dollar to help the provinces provide primary health care. The Liberal government has reduced that to an average of about 20 cents on the dollar. In some provinces it is as low as 15 cents on the dollar in terms of the federal share of health care spending. It is not much wonder the system is in trouble.
Let us consider what is happening in New Brunswick in terms of the leadership of this government and what it has done in the last number of years. I will quote from June 10 edition of the Telegraph Journal . The health care minister of the province of New Brunswick, Dr. Dennis Furlong, has been in the health care field as a professional, as a doctor, for at least 25 years.