Mr. Speaker, the member for Calgary—Nose Hill is right. with an aging population and the differences in the way the practice of medicine is now being carried out, the focus of care is shifting from hospitals to the community. In fact, 25 years ago almost half of all health spending took place in hospitals. Today it is less than a third. We can see it for ourselves. People go in at nine in the morning for surgery and come out at four in the afternoon. We remember in our youth that people used to go into the hospital for a week or two when they had their appendix out, or some other such operation. That is one aspect.
The other aspect is that as people age, more of them want to stay at home. I can speak personally and say that in the last five years both of my parents died of cancer. They chose to die at home. In 1994 and 1995 my sisters and I had to find out about home and community care. We had to look in the yellow pages under H to find out what we could about home care. It was not easy. We found there were gaps in what was covered and what was not.
We have to rationalize this and accept that the Canada Health Act, which covers only services in hospitals and by doctors, was written at a time that was different. Now there is a whole range of home and community care that is unaddressed. The provinces do their best to try to cover it. Some have very elaborate home care programs, like Saskatchewan and British Columbia. With others it is less consistent.
In answer to the member's question, I can say that the Government of Canada has to work with provinces to find a way to make home and community care an integral part of medicare because it is just as medically necessary for aging seniors to get care at home as it is for people to get the care in hospitals. It may not be provided by doctors, but whether it is nurses or home care workers it is just as important.
I want to work with my provincial colleagues and partners to find a way to address this increasing need. I think it can be done. A couple of years ago I suggested a national home care approach which was not well received. Perhaps the atmosphere at the time was not very positive. Since the agreement of last September, I think the atmosphere has improved enough to continue those discussions.