Madam Speaker, I want to ask my colleague in the Canadian Alliance whether or not he is familiar with the announcement made yesterday by Premier Roy Romanow in my province of Saskatchewan. Does the member support the initiative taken there, which is to establish a commission that will spend the next six months doing a study, issuing an interim report and then a final report in one year's time? All that is within the parameter of abiding by the principles of the Canada Health Act and perhaps expanding those principles in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
The important thing about the Saskatchewan study is that it believes in a single tier system, which is the premise of health care in the country, and a publicly financed system.
As the member is probably aware, medicare was started in the province of Saskatchewan by former Premiers Woodrow Lloyd and Tommy Douglas of the NDP and CCF, and, of course, carried on through Allan Blakeney and now Roy Romanow. Saskatchewan once again is the only province that has struck a commission to do a study on the future of health care.
I just want to know if the the member supports the Saskatchewan initiative and the parameters of the study. Does he think it would be a helpful example for the federal government to perhaps emulate at the national level?