Yes, they do not think we have a problem. The Minister of Health stood in the House today and said there was not a crisis. I was on a radio talk show not too long ago. That is not what Canadians are saying.
The government has been hypocritical in its actions with the Standing Committee on Health. Even past Liberals such as Tom Kent state that the Liberal government is the biggest threat to medicare in the country. In short, the Liberals have continually thrown roadblocks in front of every possible means of finding a positive solution to the greatest problem we currently face in Canada today. It is time to walk the talk, but talk is all we seem to get from the Liberal government on health care.
What can Canadians expect to receive from the Canadian Alliance when it becomes government? As my hon. colleague from Red Deer previously stated, health care has been on the back burner for far too long and must be moved to the front. It is the issue that concerns Canadians the most. It is the issue, contrary to Liberal rhetoric, on which Liberals have spent the least amount of constructive time, energy and financial resources.
The Liberal government has made every effort to destroy any possibility of a healthy, co-operative relationship between the federal and provincial governments in health care. If it were really concerned about co-operating with the provinces, it would have had a high level meeting between the Prime Minister and the premiers a long time ago.
Under the Canadian Alliance, Canadians expect two central themes, patient centred and results based health care. I believe that for far too long the patient has taken the backseat in health care, and yet the patient is supposedly the focal point of the entire system.
I believe we need to move beyond traditional thinking. We need to remember why we have a health care system. Is it to create newer technology? Is it to create jobs for health care professionals? Is it to create an industry for the drug companies? The simple answer is, no. The health care system should be centred on the patient first.
The second issue is one of a results based health care system running tandem with the centrality of patient care. If we started to zero in on both of those things in this country we could expect to have results and a better health care system than we have right now.