Mr. Speaker, I know the hon. member as my neighbour. She represents the constituency directly north of mine and I know her to be a very devoted member of Parliament, committed to her community and to her country.
She remarked on the issue of health care today. I would like to ask her a question that is of particular concern to our respective communities. When she remarked on health care, it turned my attention to a hospital that is in her constituency but services all of the western part of my constituency. It is called the Queensway-Carleton Hospital.
I have met with the hospital board members in the past and they have explained to me their concerns. They are continually obliged to pay lease payments to a federal organization called the National Capital Commission. The fact that the National Capital Commission owns the land on which that hospital operates is a hindrance, an encumbrance, to the hospital's plans to expand, provide new services and possibly sublease to family doctors and other medical practitioners.
As a result, I have met with the head of the NCC to discuss the idea of transferring that land over to our community hospital. I have put forward a motion, Motion No. 135, which would accomplish just that. For the price of a dollar, the NCC would sell the property directly to the hospital, in the same way that two other hospitals in the Ottawa area have received their property from the City of Ottawa.
Given her government's professed commitment to health care, I am wondering whether she believes that the Liberal government will support this motion. Does she believe that the Liberal government will call upon the NCC, through the Treasury Board, to sell the land to our community hospital so that every dollar the hospital has at its disposal can be used for patient care and every square foot of property on which the hospital operates can be developed to expand the services that are available to our respective communities?