Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to congratulate the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve for his motion and the hon. member for Drummond for her amendment.
The hon. member who just spoke will doubtless agree with me that the money is in Ottawa, but the needs are in the provinces. Yesterday, in answer to a question from the Bloc Québécois, the Prime Minister said that he did not want money from the federal government to be used to pay for collective agreements, but to go solely towards purchasing equipment.
In my opinion, each province knows best what its health care needs are. Emergency services are a priority. Home care for the elderly is a priority. Investing in equipment is dangerous. The same thing will happen that happened in education with the millennium scholarships. We know that the federal government wants to be visible when it comes to equipment. No visibility, no equipment. We risk finding Canadian flags etched onto computers, while emergency services have serious problems, and we need to invest directly in patient care.
Will the hon. member agree with me that those best placed to determine health care priorities are none other than the provinces? We are asking the federal government to give back the money it cut in transfer payments to the provinces and let the provinces decide how to invest it. This is Quebec's main demand.