Mr. Speaker, the member raises an interesting question. What approach is better, to have disease specific strategies or to lump it all together in one pot? This seems to be what the Liberals have been doing.
The answer is very clear. Disease specific strategies have worked. They have worked throughout the industrialized world, in France, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., and through the EU. Canada is out of step in this regard. Disease specific strategies also allow for transparency and accountability.
The member raises the issue of having to pick and choose diseases. The fact is that cancer, heart disease and mental illness, if we combine those three diseases together, probably touch the lives of just about every Canadian. These are not willy-nilly issues. These are diseases that have a profound effect on Canadians.
We have a strategy to deal with cancer that is ready to go. It has been bought into by all the stakeholders and all the provinces. All it needs is the funding. The Liberal government has refused to provide the funding. Let us see how it goes.
I challenge the Liberal government to prove the cancer community wrong. The way we can do that is to fund its programs. Canadians will be pleasantly surprised to see concrete outcomes and receive huge value for their dollars.
I trust third party arm's length organizations with all their stakeholders to implement the strategy than a government bureaucracy that is subject to the political manipulation of ministers. There is also the fact that there is no real transparency or accountability available when we look at what the member is suggesting.
This strategy will be transparent. The members will be accountable. We will see value for our dollars. I encourage the member to reconsider his position and support the Canadian cancer community, the Canadian mental health community and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. They support us. They do not support the Liberal plan. They support the Conservative plan which is their plan.