Madam Chair, it is certainly not only about more money, but it is important for the federal government to be involved at a reasonable level in the funding of our health care system. Roy Romanow's recommendation, which follows many others, was simply to convince the government in the short term to get the federal share of funding of our health care system up to 25%.
The government's budget and the first ministers agreement do not accomplish that. That is a problem. It may be up to 20% when all is said and done, but it is still a long way from the fifty-fifty partnership that built medicare and it is not close to the 25% recommended by Roy Romanow. That is important for holding the provinces to account and for the federal government to have a say in sustaining, building and creating a national health care system.
I would love to stay on this topic, but I want to change topics very briefly and ask the minister a question that is very important to me in terms of the work I have done in Parliament. It has to do with fetal alcohol syndrome. I am seeking direction from the minister on her intentions to finally implement the motion that was almost unanimously passed by Parliament two years ago to require warning labels on all alcoholic beverage containers indicating to women that drinking during pregnancy could cause harm to the fetus.
When will the minister finally respect the wishes of Parliament? When will she acknowledge the sentiment of Canadians everywhere and take this tiny measure toward helping address the problem of fetal alcohol syndrome? It is not the be all and end all. It is not the final solution. It is part of a solution. It has been recommended for years. It is supported by Canadians. I would like to know today if the minister will give us a date by which she will ensure that the motion is acted on and labels become a reality and that we have some additional tool at our disposal to deal with the very serious problem of fetal alcohol syndrome.