Mr. Chairman, my hon. colleague has put his finger on what is probably the most interesting, controversial and devastating aspect of the whole health care system.
I talked earlier about greed versus service. Perhaps health has become politicized to the point where politics have become more important than providing service to people. Politics is the system of determining who gets what, when and how much. That is why I am so concerned about having stable funding legislated. We could then predict what would happen. Provinces, institutions and health organizations must plan ahead. When health becomes a political football planning goes out the window. That is significant.
My hon. colleague also mentioned the demographic shift. It is not just that a larger proportion of people in our society are getting older. People are also living longer. As a consequence demands on the health care system are increasing. It is a double whammy that complicates the issue.
To politicize all this stuff is to suggest politics can decide what the facts of life are. I do not know of any politician yet who has affected the law of gravity. It exists regardless. We must become realistic. We must ask ourselves what the issues are and deal with them on that basis. We cannot simply say “I am a Liberal and I solve problems that way”, “I am a Canadian Alliance and I solve problems that way”, or “I am a Conservative and I solve problems that way.”