Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is much time left for questions and comments, but I am a bit surprised to hear the hon. member say that the federal government is involved in health in order to protect all Canadians and to ensure that all Canadians receive the same level of health care.
We are trying to figure out where he got this. In the constitution, health is a provincial area of jurisdiction. Here is an analogy: for example, defence comes under federal jurisdiction according to the constitution. In order to keep an eye on the federal government's handling of defence, the provinces could perhaps give themselves a privilege, saying “We will strike a committee to monitor the federal government and see whether it is distributing defence-related services equally across Canada”. In my opinion, such a statement would be contrary to the spirit of confederation, which is a division of responsibilities.
Where does it say in the Canadian Constitution that health care is a federal responsibility? Where does he get this?