Mr. Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his comments based on his experience of northern communities.
Like him, I have often been shocked by the situation of northern communities and the difficulties that they face in providing adequate health services.
This party is associated with the Kelowna accord and very clear commitments to fund improvements in aboriginal health, aboriginal education and aboriginal housing. We are disappointed with the reaction of the government to these challenges. We have pointed out the ways in which it has failed to respond quickly enough to aboriginal communities.
When I met aboriginal leaders from Manitoba, they pointed out the very sharp contrast between their sense of whether their communities are prepared to meet this epidemic and the public claims by the Minister of Health. There is a gap between the lived experience of these chiefs and what the Minister of Health has been saying about the state of preparation to meet the outbreak. We are very concerned about that issue.