Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to speak in what is, in my opinion, a very important debate about health care.
Health care is something that Canadians from coast to coast to coast truly believe in. Whenever I talk to new Canadians, especially, about some of the things that make Canada so attractive, in fact, it is our health care system. It might not necessarily be the most perfect system in the world, but it is a system that is, generally speaking, accepted as one of the finest delivery of services that we provide as a society.
Canadians love our health care system, and they want to see governments working together to protect it into the future. It is one of the areas of responsibility in which I think the current government has done exceptionally well. Shortly after forming government back in 2015, we were able to reach agreements with the different provinces and territories in regard to a funding formula, among other things.
I used to be the health critic in the province of Manitoba. I am very familiar with jurisdictional responsibilities and who is responsible for what. For those who advocate that Ottawa has no responsibility other than to give cash, they are wrong. There is a responsibility that all of us have, even members of the Bloc have to the constituents they say they represent, to ensure the health care services that we have today continue to be there in the future. If there are ways that we can expand upon them, we should be open to doing so, and this government has clearly indicated its interest.
In terms of the motion that has been presented today, one of the things I do agree with is regarding the workers. I have had the opportunity, as many members have, to talk a great deal about the pandemic. I often talk about the high sense of co-operation and the focus of the government and the Prime Minister, which is, in fact, minimizing the damage of the coronavirus pandemic. We are working with all the stakeholders, and I often make reference to that. However, we have some real heroes who need to be recognized, which I have done in some of my previous comments, but I do think it is worth repeating time and time again.
Our health care workers have done an exceptional job during this pandemic, and when I think of health care workers, they are those in hospitals and personal care home facilities, home care service workers and those who visit homes to provide services to seniors. There is a wide spectrum of individuals who have been able to sustain our health care system during this pandemic, and they have really been challenged to provide the quality of service that Canadians expect there to be.
At times, it has been challenging, whether in the province of Quebec or, more recently, the province of Manitoba, where we have needed to bring in the Canadian Forces or the Red Cross. One of the nice things about the federation is recognizing that Ottawa can complement many of the things that are taking place within the health care services, and we have seen this vividly during the last eight months, and ultimately, I would argue, since 2015.
The government truly understands the importance of and values the work of health care professionals who meet the challenge day in and day out, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. It is one of the reasons we allocated significant money to provinces to provide additional financial support to those workers. Whether they work in operating rooms or the ICU, provide bedside care, replace bedpans or clean stations, these individuals provide the services that are so critical to allowing patients to be safe in our institutions.
There are also the services of home care providers who visit seniors and others in the community. The government has not only acknowledged their existence but has supported them financially in all regions of our country. I do not think there is a member of Parliament in this House of any political stripe who would challenge the idea that our health care professionals, workers and supporters have really stepped up to the plate during this pandemic. All members of the House would recognize that, because that is a reality.
I am very passionate about health care because I believe in it and I know the number one concern of the residents of Winnipeg North is health care. They value it and treasure it. Whether as an MLA or now as a member of Parliament, I will do whatever I can to ensure that health care continues for future generations. I am so encouraged that we have a Prime Minister who is committed to our health care system and the Canada Health Act. Previous prime ministers lacked that sense of commitment, which causes concern.
People should understand why the Bloc Québécois is here. It is not here, as the government House leader said, to contribute positively for the entire country. Members of the Bloc would be quite happy to see issues related to other provinces being left to the side. Yes, in this particular motion, they are advocating that we should look at other provinces too, but let us also remember that the biggest advocates for just giving them cash and forgetting about anything else are members of the Bloc.
The Conservatives might not be that far behind, but I can say that it would be fundamentally wrong for any government to give a bunch of cash to the provinces and say it does not want anything else to do with them and that they should just take the cash and run. If it were up to the Bloc, it would be for not only health care but every department. I understand that because it sees it having a very different role.
We recognize that whether people are residents of Quebec, my home province of Manitoba or anywhere in Canada, our first priority needs to be the pandemic. That should be the first priority for us, not how we might have confrontations over issues that are really not there. The Bloc focuses on bringing forward issues at a time when most Quebeckers, I would think, just as most Manitobans, want all of us to work collaboratively on trying to minimize the negative impacts of the coronavirus.
I asked the member about the positioning of the Canada Health Act. The Canada Health Act has five basic principles: public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability and accessibility. Some members in the House would like to see more. A number of years back, in the 1990s, there was a push to have accountability also incorporated into the Canada Health Act.
The federal government made good decisions when it talked about the importance of home care services and medications. It would be nice to see expansion for these types of services. Some provinces are further ahead than other provinces. Quebec has done a phenomenal job on child care. That was referenced in yesterday's speech. Many years ago, the Province of Saskatchewan did a phenomenal job on health care, and look what we have today.
Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance referenced British Columbia and the fine work it was doing on environmental issues.
We are a big country and provinces play an absolutely critical role especially when it comes to health care delivery. As I said, I used to be the health care critic in my home province. I know the role that provinces play.
With respect to the pandemic and health care, the federal government has stepped up to the plate. We have resourced hundreds of millions, going into billions, of additional dollars to support health care. We have put special emphasis on issues like mental health. I suspect that if we were to canvass people across Canada, we would find that mental health needs require additional attention. My Liberal caucus colleagues often raise mental health as an issue.
Home care services are again emphasized and financially resourced, at least in part, by the national government. We need to focus even more attention on these types of issues.
Some would say that the Liberal Party has been talking about pharmacare for a number of years. The Prime Minister made it an issue, and it has been widely debated in Canada for the last four or five years now, at a significantly higher level of debate than it was when medicare was first brought in. I am comfortable believing that because I have been a parliamentarian for 30 years. It is only in the last five years that we have seen the issue of pharmacare at the stage where it is today.
If we listen to our constituents, no matter in what province they live, we will be sensitive to the issue of a national pharmacare program. To achieve that, we have to do what was said in the throne speech in September, which is that we need to work with provinces. It is just not possible to have an optimum national pharmacare program without co-operation and support from provinces and territories. Even though we are in a pandemic, these are the types of issues on which this government continues to move forward.
Once again, we got an indication of this from yesterday's announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister. We continue to move forward with that. Members will remember that only four or four and a half years ago, through a standing committee, we requested that the issue be looked into and brought forward.
I will provide some comments on financing of health. I could probably spend a lengthy period of time on this, so I will try to encapsulate my thoughts on it.
On health care funding, back in the early nineties, I can remember sitting in the Manitoba legislature when Ottawa was making some cuts. At the time, we were told that we would establish a base for ongoing support toward health care and then there would be incremental increases. I suspect, if members were to look at the Debates of the Manitoba legislature back in the early nineties, members would see that it was only a question of time before Ottawa would not contribute a dime toward health care. In a previous negotiation, premiers wanted to see tax point changes as opposed to direct cash going into health care. If we had continued along that line, we would not have had health care dollars coming from Ottawa. It would have been in the form of tax point changes.
I always find it interesting when members opposite say that there were cuts in health care in the early nineties. There was one budget where there was a cut, but there was also an establishment of a base and a fact that Ottawa would always contribute toward health care. I am pretty confident in that, because I was in the Manitoba legislature when that was debated. Because of that guarantee and the monies that continued to flow every year afterward, money in the treasury continued to grow in health care transfers. Today we give more money, historic amounts of money, toward health care. Even over and above those health care transfers, additional hundreds of millions of dollars are being tagged to go toward health care in our provinces and territories.
We understand the expectations, the role of the federal government and the importance of continuing to work with provinces and territories. When it comes to the pandemic and the testing, for example, provinces have the responsibility and the administration to ensure the testing is being done. However, during the restart program, the $19 billion that went to the different provinces enabled the Province of Manitoba to triple the number of tests that were being done. Whether it is examples such as that or looking at vaccines, we are in a fantastic position.
Contrary to the impression that the leader of the official opposition tries to leave, Canada is well positioned to be there in a very real and tangible way, because of the fine work that was done by science and civil servants and by working with other jurisdictions. We now have an opportunity, through a number of different companies, to provide the vaccines that Canadians will need. We will be going to our health care workers and others to ensure Canadians continue to be safe going through this pandemic. We will get out of it.