Mr. Speaker, I hope we can. I love these types of debates, but I wanted to get this point across.
What he is talking about is the area between Edmundston, the parliamentary secretary's hometown, and the part of the province that I represent. There is one constituency between us. I am going to quote directly from the article because I think it says it better than any of us can. It states:
Typical of the problem is the fact that between Fredericton and Edmundston there are eight hospitals, with Dr. Chalmers having 350 beds--
That is the name of the hospital in Fredericton.
--and Edmundston with 169. In between are facilities in Perth-Andover (42 beds), Bath (23), Woodstock (62), Tobique Valley (15), Grand Falls (35), and Saint-Quentin (12). I suggest that if all patients were polled as to whether they wanted to be treated in a hospital with more specialists and the latest technology, they would say “take me there”.
I think that point is worth considering. What I am trying to lay out here is that tough decisions are going to have to be made by all Canadians if we are going to change the system and make it better.
It is no good for me to point my finger over there, because when I do I have three fingers pointing back at me. We are in this collectively. We have to work together to fix it and that includes the provinces.