Mr. Speaker, the day I was sworn in as minister of state for public health, we immediately went to work with the minister of justice, the member for Mount Royal, and the minister of health. We began the negotiations on the amendment from the member for Mount Royal on the hepatitis C compensation.
The Conservative government had the good fortune to sign what had been negotiated by the Liberal government. All the work had been done, and the Conservatives should be very grateful that we handed it over to them.
The same can be said for the credit the minister takes for the 6% rise in transfer payments every year. That was negotiated by Paul Martin, as the prime minister, in 2004. That is now signed by all the provinces and territories. Therefore, every day in the House the minister rises to take credit for what was done by a previous Liberal government.
The Prime Minister has said that nothing was done on home care. In that 2004 accord, there was an agreement on home care, which, again, was put in place by the Liberal government. The Conservative government has chosen to abdicate from the terms of that 2004 accord.
From health human resources to home care to not even appointing a federal co-chair for the national pharmaceutical strategy, the Conservative government has completely abdicated all roles on health and health care. In spite of being the fifth biggest provider of health care, aboriginals, military, veterans, corrections, the RCMP and members of the public service have some of the worst health care in the country, yet the government refuses to act on any of them.