Mr. Speaker, what is so distressing is that I do believe that the minister and the government understand that disease prevention and health promotion are indeed front-line services. The Conservatives' continuing narrative is that they have not cut front-line services when the preventable injuries, suicide and substance abuse are so much higher than the national average. The health promotion disease prevention programs and services funded by FNIHB through contribution agreements like those that we have listed have been essential in both measuring and reducing these health gaps.
It is appalling that now the TB rate in the Inuit population is 284 times the rate of the Canadian-born non-aboriginal population and that an epidemic of prescription drug addiction is confronting the northern communities.
The government has to get with the program. It has indeed cut front-line services, and the cuts have to be reversed.