Mr. Speaker, first, I wish to inform the Chair that I will split my time with the hon. member for Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel.
I am pleased to address the motion of the Bloc Quebecois that was tabled by the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve, which is adjacent to my riding. The motion reads as follows:
That this House condemn the government for withdrawing from health-care funding, for no longer shouldering more than 14 per cent of the costs of health care, and for attempting to invade provincial areas of jurisdiction by using the preliminary report by the Romanow Commission to impose its own vision of health care.
This motion is of course a long one and it includes several words. However, it should clearly be stated from the outset that it has two objectives. The first one is to demonstrate how the federal government has, in recent years—and this is what I will attempt to demonstrate here—opted out of a service which, in the minds of Quebecers, is essential. How can we explain that the federal government has made such drastic cuts to its contribution to health in recent years?
I also want to discuss the whole issue of related provincial jurisdictions. As the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve said earlier, it is rather surprising that the Minister of Health, who is herself an expert on constitutional law, does not understand once and for all that the recommendations of the Romanow commission, which deal among other things with provincial jurisdictions, are totally unacceptable. It is regarding this aspect that, in the ten minutes that I have, I will try to convince those who are listening.
Before getting to the core of the issue, it is important to go back in time to understand how this tax imbalance has its origin in Canadian history. As we know, way back in 1942, the provinces, including Quebec, willingly decided to take part in what was called the war effort by agreeing to transfer, in the case of Quebec, a number of tax points on a temporary basis. I insist on the term “temporary”, because over the years, the federal government seems to have forgotten that this transfer was only for a particular time in our history, that is during the war.
At that time, the federal government assumed the right to collect personal and corporate income tax. No problem so far. The provinces, including Quebec, totally agreed to that until the war ended in 1945, when the time came for them to get these tax points back. The federal government said “No, we are keeping them. We are not giving them back to the provinces”. It kept accumulating the money and refused to transfer the tax points back to the provinces as initially planned in 1942.
This is why, later on, Quebec introduced its own taxation system, which was considered double taxation, to be able to provide services to Quebecers.
At the same time, the federal government was passing an increasing number of legislative measures, particularly in the area of health. Let us not forget our history.
In 1957, the hospital insurance program was established. In 1966, the Medical Care Act was passed. From 1957 on, each time the federal government interfered in an area under provincial jurisdiction, Quebec reacted. Quebec passed its own legislation because we believe that health is a provincial responsibility. While the federal government passed legislation on hospital insurance in 1957, Quebec introduced a hospital insurance plan in 1961. While the federal government passed its Medical Care Act in 1966, Quebec introduced its own health insurance plan in 1970.
So, historically, Quebec has assumed its constitutional responsibilities every time. This being the case, the government decided to contribute to the health system by funding 50% of health costs. But there was a string attached. The federal government said: “You have to comply with the five principles of the Canada Health Act. So, we give you 50% but you have to respect certain principles, including universality, accessibility, portability, public administration and comprehensiveness”. The federal 50% is conditional upon respect of these five principles, which are in the federal legislation.
Over time, as the years went by, we became aware that the federal government has never hesitated to cut its share of funding. Two programs were created: established program financing and the public insurance program, which evolved into the Canada health and social transfer. It is the principal federal contribution to health care, but also funds our post-secondary education system and what might be termed health and social services, welfare.
The problem arose when this real imbalance set in, when the federal government got out of funding. I would like to review a few figures.
In 1993-94, 22% of health care spending in Quebec came from the federal government. In 2005-06, it will be 13%. While the health care needs are in Quebec and in the provinces, while the provinces are required to provide services, and are prepared to fulfill their constitutional responsibilities, the federal government is taking advantage of a situation to tighten its purse strings and refuse to provide the funding required to respect the five principles laid out in federal legislation.
I would also like to remind the House that in 1983, 28% of Quebec's revenue came from federal transfers. In 2000-01, transfers account for only 16% of Quebec's revenue. The federal government's transfer contribution is shrinking yet the needs are growing and. more specifically, the Quebec government spends two-thirds of its budget on health care, education and social services.
We can try to predict, we can try to project and assess what share of spending will go toward education and health in 2010-11. We are forecasting that 85% of the Government of Quebec's budget will go to these three areas.
The needs are increasing, but the means to fund these services is diminishing. This is fairly curious, because in order to find a solution to this backing away from fiscal commitments, this tax imbalance, the government has nothing better to propose than creating a commission. It established the Romanow commission, whose recommendations included interfering in the provinces' areas of responsibility.
If the federal government wishes to solve the problem of health care for the provinces for once and for all, it has to provide the required funding. We must give the provinces the financial resources they need to provide services. Then, we will find solid and sustainable solutions to the health care problem in Quebec.