Mr. Speaker, next Thursday will mark the 15th anniversary of the S.O.S. Montfort rally. The support for the Montfort Hospital is a testament to the strength and determination of the Franco-Ontarian society to which I belong. The commitment of $200 million over 20 years made by this government in June 2006 has doubled the scope of the hospital's services.
Too often, the suggestion by an Ontario commission to close the hospital is politicized, and demagogues blame a former provincial premier. Yet this situation never would have occurred if the federal government of the day had not made drastic cuts to health care transfers.
When federal health care transfers were reduced from 50 to 14 cents of every dollar, the provincial government was forced to close 44 hospitals, including Ottawa's Riverside and Grace Hospitals, and merge 14 others.
Since then, this federal government had made major strides in this area. It now provides 30 cents of every dollar spent on provincial health care, and counting.