Mr. Speaker, first, I wish to inform the Chair that I will split my time with the hon. member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.
I think it is appropriate to read the motion before us today. This motion has been put forward by the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, who is our critic on health issues. Incidentally, he is doing an excellent job and I am taking this opportunity to congratulate him. The motion reads as follows:
That the federal government give the provinces the additional money for health unconditionally, with the promise of the provinces to use all of it for health care.
The hon. member for Drummond, who sits on the Standing Committee on Finance, proposed an amendment which reads as follows:
according to the priorities they have established and to provide an accounting to their residents.
This goes without saying. The main argument is included in the amendment. There is no question that Quebec agrees with the principle of being accountable to its own citizens. Quebec has an auditor general too.
I want to say a few words on the Romanow report. The recommendations included in this report call for a standardization of health care in Canada, and they deal with issues that fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces.
The Romanow report proposes structures, standards and more bureaucrats in Ottawa, which goes against the very spirit of the Constitution. Federal officials would start meddling in provincial matters.
The Romanow report proposes a single Canada-wide health system, which of course is unacceptable to Quebec. As the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve pointed out, it is unacceptable not only to the Premier of Quebec, but also to the leaders of the other two parties in the National Assembly, and to all the members of that assembly, which passed a resolution to this effect.
I want to take a few moments to mention the comments made by Jean Charest, who said “Health is a jurisdiction of the Quebec National Assembly. It is not up to the federal government to set priorities, or to impose conditions on the transfer of funds”. He added that “Federal funding for health must be unconditional”. Mr. Charest emphasized that point.
With respect to the Romanow report, the leader of Action démocratique du Québec, Mario Dumont, said that “It essentially means more centralization, more bureaucracy, more exclusions regarding the diversification of services. In that sense, it goes against the ADQ's platform. It is contrary to the experiences of all the provinces that have tried to improve the operation of the health system”.
I think it is useful to mention these comments.
In short, the Romanow report would turn the current system upside down and lead to squabbling and endless discussions. In the meantime, patients are suffering and health care providers are exhausted.
I was listening when the health minister stated that the Romanow report would put an end to all the squabbling. On the contrary. Without going over all the recommendations in the Romanow report, we can see that it proposes a new structure, a Canada-wide council. That means more public servants. It would add a new principle to the Canada Health Act, the so-called accountability principle. It would extend the legislation to include diagnostic and home-care services. It wants to go further.
Since health care is an area of provincial jurisdiction, would it not be appropriate for the federal government to transfer money to Quebec?
Every since the Canada Health Act was passed and the system was established, the federal government has been collecting taxes in Quebec and, pursuant to its spending power, funding health care.
The Government of Quebec has the option of not agreeing to the conditions attached to the additional health funding. Maybe the Prime Minister will agree to hand over the money after meeting with the premiers, but we do not know the amount involved. What we know is that Quebec needs at least $50 million more a week.
If everyone were minding their own business in Canada, provinces would collect the taxes they needed to deliver health care.
Right now, the federal government is providing funding anyway; it wants to provide funding and many provinces, in fact all of them except Quebec, want to keep receiving funding from Ottawa.
This is what Mr. Bouchard did in 2000, when he was forced to accept the offer made at the time to increase funding for health care, but with a knife to his throat. Not accepting it would have meant refusing a considerable amount of money and being forced to tax Quebeckers more, which put us in a completely untenable situation. This is called fiscal strangulation; there is no other word for it. This is a very sensitive area; very important, given that it is health.
The Minister of Health is saying to us, “Do not squabble over this. Do not squabble over the Romanow report. Do not squabble over the possibility of the federal government going back to the funding levels that existed before this party took office”. That is what is being called for, returning to the funding levels that existed in 1993. The cuts were made unilaterally, need I add?
Mr. Romanow's study lasted 18 months and cost $15 million, if we are to believe the figures. Currently, there is a $50 million shortfall in health care funding per week. Imagine all of the things that could not be done. If we had received this money, there might be more doctors, more nurses, more equipment, more could have been done to help the health care system.
The Liberal Party is not able to be consistent on a motion moved in the House on distinct society; it cannot recognize that Quebec does things differently. We have the best health care system in Canada because, for example, when it comes to home care, we have the CLSCs. No other province has done as much as Quebec in terms of prevention and home care.
Incidentally, Mr. Romanow commented on this; his recommendations reflected these accomplishments. No other province, as far as I know—