Mr. Speaker, my question for the hon. member from the Alliance who just spoke has to do with the Canada Health Act. The member talked about provincial flexibility and jurisdiction. Could the member tell the House whether he views the Canada Health Act as an acceptable form of setting boundaries on what provinces can and cannot do with respect to health care?
Clearly this is what the Canada Health Act is. The act sets out five basic principles. It also sets out two different practices as unacceptable to the federal government, extra billing by physicians and user fees. These are grounds on which the federal government can withdraw its own money from receiving provinces.
Could the member be clearer with respect to his own view of the Canada Health Act? Does he believe that the setting of these kinds of boundaries as represented by the Canada Health Act are unacceptable? If he was in a position to do so would he seek to get rid of the Canada Health Act? Everything he says points in that direction.