Mr. Speaker, finding a family doctor continues to be a concern in my riding. I was therefore very pleased last week when the hon. Minister of Health announced federal funding to support the placement of more than 100 family medical residents in rural Canada.
Yet who was the first to complain of this much-needed investment? The members guessed it: the leader of the federal NDP.
Why was I not surprised when I heard of this criticism? This is the same NDP leader who voted against Canada's economic action plan. This is the same NDP leader who opposes our government's opening of agricultural markets through negotiated free trade deals. This is the same NDP leader who ordered his rural MPs to follow his lead and defeat a private member's bill to repeal the long gun registry.
It is obvious the leader of the NDP does not care about rural Saskatchewan. His criticism of rural Canada's need for doctors further proves that his party is out of touch. The NDP party can no longer claim to be the party of health care in Canada, but has become a party of extreme, out of touch special interest groups.