Madam Speaker, as my colleague has pointed out clearly, the underfunding in recent years has created very great needs in the provinces and in Quebec. Some sectors, such as imaging, may have been neglected by the provinces because they are so hugely expensive. That is one of the direct consequences of the federal government's insufficient funding to the provinces.
This specific agreement, found only in the context of the parliamentary review is unfortunate. One might think at first glance that it refers to all communiqués which it does, but only in connection with a very specific section: parliamentary review, and not implementation of the entire bill.
It is very important that it be for the entire application of the bill. The joint Canada-Quebec communiqué referred to three or four very specific situations, which I will address rapidly. Among other things, reference was made to the following:
The Government of Quebec will report to Quebecers on progress in achieving its objectives, and will use comparable indicators, mutually agreed to with other governments. In this respect, Quebec will continue to work with other governments to develop new comparable indicators.
Quebec’s Health Commissioner is resposible for reporting to the Govenrnment of Quebec on Quebec’s health system. He will cooperate with the Canadian Institutefor Health Information.
Yet the responsibility lies with the Government of Quebec, through its Health Commissioner.
Continuing the quote:
Funding made available by the Government of Canada will be used by the Government of Quebec to implement its own plan for renewing Quebec’s health system.
This is not a reference to accountability, but to implementation. It is not in the bill at the present time.
Naturally, since there is much talk about accountability and reviews, the communiqué is quite explicit. It states, and I quote:
The Government of Quebec will continue to report to Quebecers on the use of all health funding.
The member is quite correct. There are serious problems in a number of health care sectors. This bill corrects them to some extent, but we must not forget that they are the result of poor management, cuts to transfer payments and the underfunding of health by this government.