Madam Speaker, I did not say that the solution was to throw more money at it. We need more funding to sustain the system and make sure it is equalized across the country with national standards.
The Romanow commission is looking at ways of enhancing and making medicare more cost effective and beneficial for the Canadian people. There are efficiencies that I hope we can find to put into the system. However throwing more money into the system is not the answer, but we need enough money to make sure they system is sustainable in terms of the hospitals, salaries for doctors and nurses.
I think any independent analyst would say that the cutbacks were just too severe in 1995. It pushed many of the provinces deeper into debts and deficits. Many provinces closed hospitals and cut back on their systems. I think the government went too far at that particular time.
Part of the problem is extra federal funding, but part of the problem is making sure we are more efficient in terms of delivering a health care system.