Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time.
I rise today to participate in the debate on the future of the health care system in Canada. I rise today as the member of Parliament for the riding of Haldimand--Norfolk--Brant in southwestern Ontario, a rural riding that may reflect different realities than other ridings throughout this country. We have a very large agricultural base. In fact I represent about 70% of the tobacco farmers in this country and their lifestyles reflect also a lot of the health realities in my riding. I represent a riding that has the largest first nations reserve in the country, the people of Six Nations. Again it is a different microcosm of lifestyles and health problems that face that community.
I speak knowing that a lot of the services we receive in rural Canada, and even in parts of southwestern Ontario that I would say are not remote, are not at the same level of service as is reflected in some of the urban centres across the country. The rural caucus of the Liberal Party made sure that Mr. Romanow in his deliberations was aware of some of the unique circumstances that we face in rural Canada.
Today I want to talk about the commitment of the government to health care. The Speech from the Throne made it very clear that the renewal of our health care system is a key priority for the government. The throne speech said that no issue touches Canadians more deeply than health care. Our health care system is a practical expression of the values that define our country. If I talked to Canadians, particularly people throughout my riding of Haldimand--Norfolk--Brant, and I asked them what their key concern was, I would say it would be health care and the future of health care in this country.
The commitment of the government is to ensure that there is a comprehensive system of health care that remains publicly administered and in particular, universally accessible. As most of my colleagues know, just last week the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology tabled its report “The Health of Canadians--the Federal Role”, the Kirby report. I encourage all Canadians to look at that report. The committee consulted with Canadians, as has Mr. Romanow. The committee has made specific recommendations that I think should be part of the debate on health care and the future of health care in this country.
In late November, which is just a few weeks away, the Romanow commission will table its report on the future of Canada's health care system. Members of Parliament are anxious, as are the rest of Canadians, to get to the task of setting health care right for the future. The recommendations in both the Romanow and Kirby reports will assist our government in our efforts to do this. The Prime Minister will then sit down with the premiers of the provinces once again, as he did a few years ago, and try to work with them in terms of setting up a future role for health care in Canada.
The Speech from the Throne refers to the 2000 first ministers meeting when an agreement was reached on health care that reinforced our collective commitment to the principles of medicare, to work collaboratively to reform our system and to measure the report of our progress.
Health care renewal is by no means the single area of focus of the Government of Canada. Another issue to which we committed in the Speech from the Throne was healthy living. I do not have to tell members of the House that increased levels of physical activity, healthy eating and other preventive measures would translate to a better quality of life for all Canadians, indeed probably a better quality of life for most members of Parliament, including myself.
The burden of chronic disease on Canadian society is enormous. Currently two-thirds of all deaths in Canada result from four groups of chronic diseases: cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes and respiratory diseases. In consideration of this the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of health agreed in their September 2002 meeting to work together on short, medium and long term pan-Canadian healthy living strategies and to emphasize nutrition, physical activity and healthy weights.
One key to effective, affordable and responsive health care is for governments, the health care community and individual Canadians to concentrate on the promotion, maintenance, improvement and particularly the prevention of illness. While many health promotion and disease prevention efforts have been successfully underway in many jurisdictions for some time, a more concerted pan-Canadian and integrated approach to healthy living is necessary to make substantive changes in the health outcomes of Canadians.
The aims of the healthy living strategy are to promote good health, to reduce the risk factors associated with diabetes, cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and the burden and the costs that they put on our health care system.
The Government of Canada will be working with provincial and territorial colleagues to develop short, medium and long term pan-Canadian healthy living strategies that will address these issues. Together with the provinces and territories, we will hold a healthy living summit to bring together health and other sectors of government, non-government organizations, health specialists, first nations and Inuit, business and other stakeholders to the table. It is key, to get these changes, that we need to involve all Canadians because all Canadians have a stake in a healthy Canada.
A series of initial consultations with these stakeholders will precede the summit. The summit will provide an opportunity to set out specific strategies to support healthy living in various settings, one being healthy communities, including rural, remote and northern areas.
As I said, we in rural Canada need to feel we are involved in this process. I know Mr. Romanow was very attentive to the remarks that the rural caucus put forward to him. I think the premiers, the ministers and the public servants working in this area need to recognize more fully that rural Canada needs to have a larger say in these sorts of issues.
In June 2003 ministers of health will be presented with a proposed collaborative strategy for healthy living. It will include an overall vision for action; short, medium and long term objectives; key components, interventions and deliverables; and indicators for measuring progress in the short, medium and long term.
Over the long term the strategy will address a range of health care issues while initially focusing on building on health care promotion and disease prevention efforts which have been successfully underway in jurisdictions for some time.
The government is dedicated to collaborative solutions to ensure that the health of Canadians is maintained and that opportunities to improve health care are available to all Canadians no matter where they live.