Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Edmonton Strathcona for her excellent comments concerning the need for a universal public pharmacare program that would make such a difference for our seniors, especially when it comes to the accessibility and cost of medications. Everyone would benefit. Unfortunately, yesterday, three parties joined forces against the NDP's proposal, which would have met such pressing needs.
I believe that the private sector has no place in long-term care facilities. As we saw yesterday, the Liberals often bow down to large private companies. Yesterday, it was big pharma, and we get the impression that they do not really want to bow down to large private companies when it comes to senior care.
We should not distinguish between credit cards and health insurance cards. Health insurance cards should give us access to quality care, and I think that we should all work together and figure out a way of avoiding such situations in the future.
The Herron long-term care residence on Montreal's West Island, a private institution, was utterly devastated. People were treated with contempt, ill-treated, malnourished; some were dehydrated, left to lie on the floor and in their beds for days on end. It is disgraceful and unacceptable in our society, and we, at every level of government, must do everything we can to work together to make sure that it does not happen again. The private sector has no place in health care.