Mr. Speaker, I am going to respond to a number of comments my colleague has made.
First, she mentioned clinics where anyone can go any day and get an X-ray on their leg if they need it, but if there is an accident the doctor can order it and it is covered. I would suggest that she has just explained the loophole that is out there for people to queue-jump. All the doctor has to say is “this is not medically necessary” and someone can go to that other clinic and get the service provided ahead of time. That is a serious issue that has been brought forth as a result of loopholes in the system, just with a doctor writing “not medically necessary” so they can queue-jump.
I believe the member made the statement that not all the hospitals are publicly owned because the provincial governments run them. In my view, provincial governments are still public. They have been for some time.
I also want to comment on her indication about the Romanow report and following along what Romanow did. Let me quote from a section of the Romanow report written in response to private, for profit delivery. It states:
--in effect, these facilities “cream off” those services that can be easily and more inexpensively provided on a volume basis, such as cataract surgery or hernia repair. This leaves the public system to provide the more complicated and expensive services for which it is more difficult to control cost per case.
But if something goes wrong with a patient after discharge from a private facility--as a result, for example, of a post-operative infection or medical error--then the patient will likely have to be returned to a public hospital for treatment as private facilities generally do not have the capacity--
A number of issues have come forth, and I believe it is questions and comments, Mr. Speaker, so unless I am restricted in making a certain length of comments, I also want to mention this. The member said the government is opposed to for profit delivery, but I would say to her that the reason this is an issue is what the minister said at the health committee:
The minister was remarkably blunt in his response. He said that, in fact, the Canada Health Act does not prohibit private sector delivery of medicare services...“If some provinces want to experiment with the private delivery option, my view is that as long as they respect the single-payer, public payer--
They should be allowed to go ahead, said the minister.
So we have an issue here. We want to hear the Prime Minister and the health minister say they will not allow for profit delivery. They cannot say they are against for profit if they are not putting enough dollars into the system. I cannot say I do not want a hole in the roof of my house because I do not want the rain to come through and then not fix the hole.