Mr. Speaker, you will understand that it is a pleasure for me to speak to the Bloc Quebecois motion calling upon the federal government to follow up on the provinces' request.
The motion is simple and I am not going to read it. It is echoed by the question that Canadians and Quebeckers often hear in the media these days as to the level to which the federal government is contributing to health care spending and the objective that the provinces would like the federal government to reach. The government is currently contributing 16%; I think this is what the Romanow report says.
We will recall that in Quebec, the current Liberal provincial Minister of Finance, Yves Séguin, had been hired by the Parti Quebecois government to prepare the well-known Séguin report. I do not think that the Parti Quebecois can be accused of being biased in this regard. Mr. Séguin was hired to analyze the famous fiscal imbalance and he is the one who found the figures which were corroborated by the Romanow report.
Except for the Liberal government, nobody in civil society is denying that the federal government is paying only 16% of the bill. The goal is 25%. Incidentally, I would like to stress the fact that the health care issue is part of the Canadian federation problem.
Why? Because the federal government does not provide any direct service to the general public. Other than for aboriginals and, obviously, veterans, no health service is provided by the federal government. The provinces and other entities, under the Constitution, have well-defined responsibilities.
It is not the federal government that incurs the costs. I would say that is for the best. When we look at the gun registry program that was supposed to cost $2 million, but cost $2 billion, if the federal government had to take care of health we would have a serious problem on our hands. The Constitution defined the responsibilities very well and every province is responsible for health.
The problem with the Canadian federation is that the government collects 60% in taxes and pays only 16% of health costs, which, in Quebec, account for 40% of the entire budget for the province.
There is a problem. I can appreciate that people want us to change our tone, but the Parti Quebecois government was the first to run ads in the media.
Consequently, the Liberal Party of Quebec must join the other provinces today to do the same thing the Parti Quebecois government and the Harris government in Ontario did when they published similar ads telling people to stop being lulled by the federal government.
That is the problem with the federation. The federal government, which writes a cheque and pays only 16% of the bill, can dictate the standard to the provinces, yet the provinces are responsible and have to suffer the wrath of the people using the system. When users have a problem they take it out on those who provide the service. They take it out on the provinces, which is normal.
In Quebec, the Government of Quebec is blamed and held responsible. During the last provincial election, the Liberal government made health an issue and promised to reduce overcrowding in emergency rooms once it came to power. Almost a year has gone by and nothing has changed. Mr. Couillard, the Minister of Health and Social Services, had to confess this week that it would be another two or three years before anything could be done about overcrowded emergency rooms.
Why? Because he does not have the money. There is nothing tricky about it. Health is a question of money and the money is in federal pockets. What we are saying today is that there will be a surplus of around $8 billion, give or take. We are near the end of the fiscal year. All sorts of experts are making pronouncements. Still, in recent years, the Bloc Quebecois has only been off by 4% in its predictions. So, it will be close to $8 billion.
The government has already pledged that $2 billion of this surplus will be given to the provinces. It has already done that, and is doing so this one time, even though it knew very well when it met with the provincial premiers and health ministers that, quarter after quarter, it would be having billion-dollar surpluses. It effectively said, “I promise you $2 billion but it is just for this one year only”.
How can the provincial health ministers manage the problem of emergency rooms if they cannot count on stable funding?
They cannot hire any staff. Quebec's Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Couillard, openly announced that he would buy equipment with the $2 billion because he cannot invest it in personnel, not knowing if the funding will be ongoing.
Of course, I wish for the sake of all Quebeckers that in the next federal budget that will be brought down in a week or so, all provinces will be told that the $2 billion already promised will be recurring funding. That is how the Liberal government operates. It is simple. They announce something and then announce it again and again. It is that simple.
Therefore the sum of $2 billion has been announced on a one time only basis, and probably the second time, they will announce that this amount will be recurring. They want to remind the public, the people who work hard to pay their taxes, the people who do not always have the time to follow all this, that they have just announced another $2 billion. No, it is still the same $2 billion that they promised for one year and it will probably continue. They will promise the provincial premiers and health ministers that they will be giving it regularly in coming years. I hope so.
What would be even more terrible is if, each year, the federal government were to announce to provincial premiers, to health ministers, to people, to Quebeckers, that, now it depends, it does not know, it may provide them with some money this year. Imagine how we could manage such a system. We cannot manage our personal savings if we are not sure about our income. So I have difficulty seeing how we can manage or develop health systems if we cannot have guaranteed revenues.
The Bloc Quebecois motion, supported by all parties in this House, except the Liberal Party, is simple. It says that, out of this year's $8 billion surplus, $2 billion is going to health care. There is $6 billion remaining. Half of it would be returned to health care in order to achieve as rapidly as possible the objective established by all the provincial premiers. Let us be clear that it is not the Bloc Quebecois that established this objective. It is each of the provincial premiers, following the Romanow report, following the Séguin report in Quebec. They said they had to achieve as rapidly as possible the 25% federal contribution in the health system.
I think that it is reasonable for the Bloc Quebecois to propose this solution, since there is a surplus. Of course, in our proposal, we say that, each year, half of the surplus would go to health care. I say half because, year in year out, 40% of provincial government spending goes to health. The health budget will increased by 5% each year. This is the reality, and it is supported by all the experts.
Of course, you will have understood that we do not want Canada to have a deficit and we do not want to put anyone in trouble and in dire straits. All we want is for half of the federal government surplus to go to health care, in order to achieve the 25% federal contribution as rapidly as possible, as called for by the health ministers and the premiers of each of the provinces.
What bothers us particularly is to hear today from the Liberal members that it is not 16%. According to them, Romanow, Séguin and the premiers are all wrong. The Liberal member told us earlier that what the premiers were saying was not true. She said, “Harris also lied during his last election campaign”. That is what she said. She argued that it was not so, it was not true.
Leaving the premiers out of it, not one analyst or expert in Canada questioned the 16%. It is incredible. The Liberals seem to believe they are the only ones in this House to know about such things and they maintain that they are funding 40% of health care. Now, I have to agree with my hon. colleague here. If they are paying 40%, they are 15 percentage points over and above the 25% contribution Romanow called for.
Do you see how unbelievable this is? Why can they not spend the money on health care on the eve of an election? Because, with a $6 billion surplus, they can make a lot of announcements and hand out a lot of gifts. I think we are now at the point where Quebeckers and Canadians alike want the government to stop handing out gifts. They have heard about the gifts handed out these last few years. They just want the money to be spent on health care. This is the top priority of our constituents.
I hope the members of this House will realize that the Bloc motion is aimed at improving the health care system across Quebec and Canada.