Mr. Chair, I think all of us on the government side see the first ministers accord reached on February 4 as a singular achievement in terms of making sure that our publicly financed health care system is here for Canadians for the future and is an efficient and sustainable system.
However before we go any further I would like to clarify one thing. I think the hon. member for Yellowhead suggested that the former finance minister, the member for LaSalle—Émard, said that he would scrap the accord. I want to go on record that no such statement, to my knowledge, has ever been made by the member for LaSalle—Émard. While he may very well have made comments in relation to health care, I think we need to keep the record as straight as possible here and not have allegations and things flying back and forth.
From the government's point of view, the accord is a singular achievement that speaks to not only an infusion of significant new dollars from the federal taxpayer, some $34.8 billion over the next five years to help the provinces and territories deliver health care, but it points us toward the structural reform that has to take place if our system is to be sustained and renewed.
For example, it speaks to the importance of primary health care renewal. It speaks to the importance of the inclusion of home care in the continuum of care. It speaks to the challenge that exists for some Canadians around catastrophic drug coverage. It speaks to the importance of technology and the assessment of that technology. It speaks to the development of a national human resource strategy that will deal with important issues in the provinces and territories around the number of doctors, the distribution of doctors, the number of nurses, the distribution of nurses, the nurse practitioners and the curriculum necessary to train them in this new multi-disciplinary team world of the 21st century.
Mr. Chair, in this process do I get to talk for as long as I want or will you tell me to sit down soon?