Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the member for Winnipeg--Transcona. I am pleased with the opportunity to participate in this debate.
I will start by thanking the hon. member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve and his Bloc Quebecois colleagues for having presented us with this motion. This is a very important subject. It is a priority for Canadians. It is time the House of Commons addressed this very important matter.
It is important for this debate to happen now. As soon as the House came back on January 28 we tried to have an emergency debate in the House. This requires our urgent attention given the developments in the area of health care over the last number of weeks and months. This is our first opportunity to have a lengthy debate to hold the federal government accountable for its inaction on this very important file.
We should all be reminded of the need for federal action having heard the two speakers from the Alliance Party. If ever there were a reason or a case to be made for the government to get busy and deal with the issues at hand, it is clearer today than ever before. The Alliance is determined to support privatization and to allow for a patchwork of health care systems across the country, and to gut federal responsibility in this area. That is not what we need today. We need federal leadership, action, and a commitment to preserve the Canada Health Act and the principles of medicare.
The Bloc motion is important in terms of its condemnation of the federal government and its reduced level of funding for provincial health care systems. We have no quarrel with that part of the resolution. We strongly believe that the present government is negligent and not prepared to live up to its mandate and responsibilities on the health care front.
We take umbrage and have some concern with the Bloc resolution when it comes to the whole question of jurisdiction and the suggestion that the federal government should not be rethinking its role in terms of expanding the provision of health care services because of the fear that it would invade provincial jurisdiction.
We are at a critical point in the history of medicare. We cannot let jurisdiction cause us to become immobilized. We must be creative and find co-operative solutions. There is a willingness on the part of all provincial governments across the country to work with the federal government to be creative and to restructure medicare so that it can meet the needs of the current population and of future generations to come.
The most curious part about the Bloc resolution is the suggestion that we should condemn the federal government for attempting to invade provincial areas of jurisdiction by using the preliminary report of the Romanow commission to impose its own vision of health care. Our biggest concern is that the government has not done a thing. It is sitting back, letting things happen, refusing to take charge, refusing to enforce the Canada Health Act, refusing to address the funding issue and refusing to prevent the slippage that is so rampant all around us.
The best evidence of that has been the recent statement by the new Minister of Health who said this past weekend that she would appreciate it if the provinces would not take major actions in terms of health care and would not introduce transformative changes to health care in Canada today.
We have gone from the old minister of health who is really the minister of unfinished business and who really must bear responsibility for the dilemma we are in today to a new Minister of Health who is just tiptoeing around. She is so worried about offending the provinces that she has become immobilized and is not showing any necessary leadership in terms of the real threats to health care.
Therefore we have what the Alliance wants. British Columbia is introducing measures to drastically alter medicare as we know it by de-listing vital services such as chiropractic services and increasing premiums by 50%, which would clearly have an impact on those who are least able to afford that kind of increase. The Alberta government under Ralph Klein is institutionalizing a private hospital in that province. Those changes are transformative.
These moves are major and are not merely tinkering with the system. They are a serious threat to medicare as we know it. We need only to look at the impact of free trade agreements in other areas to understand just how much Canada will be prevented from moving forward with innovations in health care if Ralph Klein and the premier of British Columbia are allowed to dismantle and fundamentally alter health care.
We have tried to raise over and over again in the House our concern regarding the federal government's intransigence and refusal to carry its fair share of funding when it comes to health care. We heard from the parliamentary secretary. The government refuses to acknowledge what the federal share of health care spending is.
The federal government refuses to acknowledge something that the premiers, health ministers and finance ministers of Canada have said over and over again, that the federal share of health care funding has dropped to the abysmal amount of 14%. We are talking about a 14% federal share and an 86% provincial share. That fact has to be recognized.
One thing Roy Romanow said to which we should all listen at this very moment is that there is no advantage to be gained by involving ourselves in jurisdictional wrangling and jurisdictions sniping at one another across the bow. The way to get out of that jurisdictional wrangling is for the federal government simply to acknowledge what has taken place, for right or for wrong, and to say “That is the position we are at and here is the dilemma”. Let us simply start with that basic assertion and build on that point.
Why does the government continue to hide behind the rhetoric about tax points and the money it put on the table in the September accord? Why does it continue to ignore the fundamental issue, which is a responsible, meaningful share by the federal government in health care? If we only could get that kind of understanding and statement, we could begin to rebuild our health care system.
Time and time again the provincial governments have said to the federal government that they are in a very difficult position because of the refusal by the federal government to provide anything more than the 14% share that is on the table now. In August 2001 they said “Restoration of federal funding through the CHST to at least 18% is our priority”. That was in August 2001 yet the federal government is trying to suggest that it is at 18% now. It would help to have a little honesty and straightforward discussion in the debate.
Again in January the premiers said very clearly that they are not able to deal with the growing pressures on the health care system because the federal government refuses to address the critical situation of funding and refuses to commit to more than a 14% share.
We are now at a critical crossroads. The federal government is refusing to budge. It is refusing to acknowledge its meagre share and its meagre position in terms of funding health care. The provincial governments are saying they cannot go on like this and they will have to take drastic action. We have to deal with this impasse immediately or medicare will be lost.
Our plea today is for the federal government to acknowledge the difficulty, to accept responsibility for its cuts over the years, and acknowledge this at least by putting transitional funds on the table to help the provinces through this difficult period before Roy Romanow reports in November. That is the only position left if we are truly serious about saving medicare and about building for the future.
The government has to move today. We simply cannot sit back and ask the provinces not to take any major steps until Mr. Romanow reports. We cannot do that. The pressures are building. We see it every day in terms of waiting lists, people who need drug coverage, people who are desperate for support, people who care for family members who are elderly or who have disabilities. We see it every single day. This is urgent. There must be action today.
I commend the Bloc for bringing the issue forward. I cannot support the motion in full but we appreciate having this debate.
Perhaps today the new Minister of Health will make a clear statement as to the federal government's priorities when it comes to Canada's number one issue, the state of health care in Canada today.