Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak to the motion proposed by the hon. member for Churchill. I have always had a problem with politicizing an issue as complex as health care with simplistic statements as the motion on the floor proposes to do, because it tends to create disinformation, anxiety and confusion and fuels a false debate on an issue of critical importance to Canadians.
The hon. member knows that the government and the Prime Minister have reiterated over and over their commitment to medicare in word and in deed. Let me quote:
Any discussion of this government's priorities must begin with health care for there is no other issue of such vital and visceral importance to Canadians. Nowhere does government interact with people in a more meaningful and consequential way.
That was said by the right hon. Paul Martin.
The government is proud of its historic credentials on medicare. While the idea began with Tommy Douglas in Saskatchewan with public hospital insurance, and let us give him credit where it is due, this idea became a concrete national medicare plan under a Liberal prime minister, Lester Pearson. It took two years to get all the provinces onside. Our Prime Minister, Mr. Martin, remembers with pride the debates around the dinner table--