Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what the bureaucrats are saying in their briefings to the Liberal backbenchers, but my understanding of agreements between the federal government and the provinces with respect to health care is that excepting the health accord of August 2000 the last agreement between the federal government and the provinces was when they went to EPF funding, Established Programs Financing, in 1977. In 1982 it was unilateral. In 1987 it was unilateral. The federal government has acted unilaterally all along the way, and to suggest that somehow this has been done by agreement is quite false.
The health accord of August 2000 is different, but even then it was a kind of take it or leave it. The money was put on the table and the provinces were told if they did not agree they would not get anything. I do not think any provincial premier could have done otherwise, but that does not take away from the fact that the federal government still has not put back into the system what it took out with those various unilateral actions over the years.