Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party had tabled a dissenting report to this report for all the reasons that were spoken of here today by the NDP. One of the most important things is that the life expectancy of Canadians was 80.9 years. We were at the top of the world charts in terms of life expectancy. That is now dropping, attributed to diabetes, childhood obesity, cardiovascular disease and all these chronic diseases, which are preventable.
The Minister of Health and the federal government have a clear responsibility to prevent disease and to promote health. It is not good enough to say we would like to do it and then do nothing. In our dissenting report we stated that we heard from every witness who presented to this committee. They had clear recommendations and they all agreed on the recommendations. These were experts. However, the government's report does not contain a single one of those recommendations made by witnesses.
I would like to ask the hon. member if she does not think it has actually become a farce when expert witnesses come to committee and present clear, concrete, factual, evidence-based arguments, bring recommendations to support the right thing to do to stop this slide in longevity in the country and to stop chronic disease, and the members of committee from the government side continue to block it. Witnesses waste their time bothering to come. It is disrespectful to witnesses and it does not show any kind of care on the part of the government or the minister to protect the health of Canadians in this country, to prevent disease or to promote health.
That is what the report should have been about. It is not. It is a whitewash report. It says nothing and it does nothing.