Mr. Speaker, I often think that we should be debating not only what was in the budget but also what was not in the budget. I think the member will agree that in the throne speech the number five priority of the minority Conservative government was to bring in wait time guarantees. Just to remind all hon. members, that undertaking was basically that should the wait time benchmarks not be met, the health care system would transport patients to other provinces or even to the United States to get those services to meet those wait times.
The budget does not include any new moneys for the wait times guarantee, zero. The latest reports in the media today are that the wait times in the other non-priority areas actually have increased while the resources from the health care system without additional money have gone to the five priority areas that were agreed upon with the provinces.
I wonder if the member would care to comment on whether or not the minority Conservative government has not only not delivered on that promise but in fact has provided absolutely no undertaking to assure Canadians that this really is a priority of the government.