Madam Speaker, health care workers have been at the front lines of this crisis for nearly a year now and they need more than just words of gratitude. What they need is for the federal government to support them to win the fight against COVID.
The federal share of overall health care funding in Canada has plummeted to 22% over the years between Liberal and Conservative governments. We started at 50%, when medicare was first established in Canada.
The Harper government, instead of providing stable funding, cut health care transfer dollars. In fact, the Conservatives negotiated the health accord with the provinces and territories and unilaterally cut the health care transfer escalator from 6% to 3%.
The member talks about funding that is stable. Would he and the Conservatives support increasing transfer payments to 25%, with escalators continuing thereafter?