Mr. Speaker, the first minister's meeting on health care is less than a week away and Canadians are already starting to see their hopes for public health care dashed.
The evidence-based, thoughtful and comprehensive Romanow report is being swamped by the rabid rhetoric that has been the trademark of previous federal-provincial meetings.
Canadians want the landmark Romanow package, their package, on the table. They want to see their leaders deliver a strategy for implementing Romanow so that we can get on with shortening waiting lists, adding home care and pharmacare, improving patient care coordination, and most importantly stopping the siphoning off of tax dollars to for profit investor owned services.
Public support for Romanow has been overwhelming. A Canadian Health Coalition petition has already collected nearly 40,000 signatures. Today, New Democrats call for constructive leadership from all sides and a concrete Romanow offer from the federal Liberals and the Government of Canada.
This is a time to strongly defend core Canadian values. It is the time for cooperation, not competition and power politics. The prescription is for Valium, not Viagra.