Mr. Speaker, may I say at the outset of my very brief remarks that I cannot believe the audacity of the member opposite. He talked about how parties on this side want to write blank cheques and the Liberals are above that. I would submit that if they were not so used to writing blank cheques to all their friends through the HRD department and all their grants and contributions to big business and rewarding friends of the Prime Minister in Shawinigan, maybe there would be a little money left over for health care. People know out in the real world that his statement that they are not prepared to write blank cheques is absolute foolishness.
In his brief remarks he referred to a mental health problem in Ontario. I think the mental health problem in Ontario is with some of the Ontario MPs who are in this Chamber. That is where the problem lies.
The reality is, and I referred to it briefly in remarks that I made earlier today, in rural Canada, in rural British Columbia we have a real problem. Earlier this week my hon. colleague from Prince George—Bulkley Valley brought up the issue of how short we are in our hospitals in northern B.C. and north central British Columbia, specifically in Prince George. The fact is, the cuts from the federal government have created this problem in health care in Canada and it is not living up to its responsibility to provide adequate services so that we can have the doctors we need in hospitals in Prince George.