Madam Speaker, in his comments the hon. member for Winnipeg—Transcona seems to put a great deal of faith in future federal governments acting responsibly in the use of a spending power they have not used responsibly in the past.
I am willing to accept that if the hon. member were to find himself as prime minister in the future he would make transfers for health care his top priority and would do whatever was necessary. However I think he and I would both agree that it is unlikely he will be prime minister in the future.
Based on a record in which the federal government has gone from 50 cent dollars down to 15 cent dollars before more cash was put in, although we are certainly nowhere close to the 50 cent mark, we have seen the federal government effectively renege on the greater share of its health care funding.
Given that, I find it difficult to understand why he feels that is the responsible route when we are concerned about health care transfers. It seems we must find a way of binding the federal government's hands and requiring that those transfers be made. Tax points do that.
Perhaps there are other methods, but I do not see them being proposed at the moment. This seems to be the best option realistically available to us. It has the additional advantage of putting more money into provincial hands as the needs of an aging population grow and as the economies of those provinces grow. There are some other advantages that go along with encouraging prudent fiscal management in the provinces.
If we say that health care and national standards are the goal, it seems to me we are better off ensuring an adequate and growing source of funding than using any other means available to us. I cannot see how we can get around that. I wonder if the hon. member could enlighten me on this point.