Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition today asking the federal government to preserve and enforce the Canada Health Act and the foundation of medicare in every province and region of Canada, and maintain the five principles of medicare.
The petitioners call upon Parliament to enshrine the Canada Health Act and the five principles of medicare in the Canadian Constitution to guarantee national standards of quality, publicly funded health care for every Canadian citizen as a right.
I would like to thank Russ Rak, a CAW Local 222 retired worker, who has actually taken the time to engage citizens in his community and to raise this very important issue with them, in asking them to sign these petitions. Russ Rack is to be congratulated for this. He and I both look forward to the answer from the minister.