Mr. Chairman, I said earlier that I was worried the member for Yellowhead was hallucinating but now I am sure. He obviously believes, and that is his right to do so, this 14¢ myth that has been portrayed by the provinces.
It is true the provinces do claim that the federal share of their health care spending is now only about 14¢ on the dollar. To come up with the 14¢ figure, provinces are comparing only the cash portion of the Canada health and social transfer.
When we went to the Canada health and social transfer a few years ago, the tax points were increasing and the cash portion was lessening. As a result the federal government had less ability to ensure that the provinces maintained the principles of medicare. We went to the CHST to try to keep the cash portion high enough to have the leverage because the best leverage is the spending leverage. The member is only talking about the cash portion, which is indeed 14¢, but we have to add the transfer for the tax points as well.
Direct federal spending for health care currently amounts to about $4 billion a year. This is for first nations health, veterans health, health protection, disease prevention, health information and health related research. As well through the tax system we provide support worth about $1 billion a year. This includes credits for medical expenses, disability, caregivers and infirm dependants. When we add the $5 billion in direct spending and tax credits to the $24 billion in transfers, we are spending about $29 billion a year, or close to 36% of all public spending on health care in Canada. The 14% does not have merit. It is actually about 36%.
We can debate the numbers but certainly jointly between the federal and provincial governments, we have to ensure that the stable funding is indeed there to get the job done. We must ensure that we have the kind of public health care system that Canadians want.