Mr. Speaker, when we look at this resolution and what we have heard in the House today, I find it passing strange that the resolution would call on the federal government to increase the transfers to the provinces with no strings attached.
In their speeches, members have called on increased spending for health care. Why would they not have had the forthrightness to insist that it go strictly to health care spending?
I also find it passing strange that the member for Calgary East called on us in a clarion summary to cut taxes. Instead of spending $1.5 billion here, not cutting spending and transferring it to the provinces as the resolution said, why did the hon. member not call on us to cut taxes by a further $1.5 billion? It is just part of the inconsistencies that we see.
Let me address the issue of federal transfers. First, in the last four budgets the federal government has increased the CHST transfers to the provinces for their own spending purposes.
In the previous budget, that of 1999, we increased those transfers by $11.5 billion. In February's budget, of this year, we increased it by a further $2.5 billion. That is an increase of 25% over the last two years and the CHST is now at $31 billion, the highest it has ever been in the history of the country.
In addition to the CHST, which is $31 billion, we also have to consider the other transfers that we make to the provinces which they can spend according to their own priorities. That includes equalization which, through reforms that we have undertaken, is now at $9.5 billion.
We also have to take into consideration that when we reformed the CHST in the previous budget we eliminated the so-called cap on the CAP. Provinces like Ontario will have benefited to the tune of almost a billion dollars extra over five years as we move to an equal sharing among the provinces on a per capita basis.
Let us look at how much these transfers should probably be. There are a number of issues. We know that the provinces have an insatiable appetite for any funds that we might make available. However, what is right and what is fair in the circumstances? Is it right that we should increase the transfers to provinces that are still in deficit, that are using the funds for creating tax cuts, that are borrowing money to pay for tax cuts and saddling future generations with that burden? Should this be one of our national priorities?
Should it be a national priority to increase the transfers to a province, such as Alberta, which has no sales tax today and which is introducing a flat tax that will proportionally benefit only the rich at the expense of middle income taxpayers, middle income taxpayers who will pay more under their flat tax than they would under the new federal personal income tax proposals brought down in our last budget? Is this what we should be financing?
Look at the debt burdens of the federal government and the provinces. Twenty-six cents out of every tax dollar paid federally goes to pay the interest on our debt. At the provincial level it is half that, 13 cents. Whose debts are the most onerous? Which ones should we give priority to as a nation in attempting to eliminate?
Let us look at health care transfers. The federal and provincial governments spend a total of $64 billion on health care in the country. The federal government spends $3 billion directly. In addition to that, when we look at the overall transfers that we make, the CHST, which consists of cash and tax points, is $31 billion. The traditional share of that some 20 years ago was that 54% of that went to health care, so that 54% of $31 billion is about $17 billion. If we add the $3 billion that we spend directly, the federal government's contribution to health care financing in the country is about $20 billion or about 31% of the total of $64 billion that is spent.
It is not fair for provinces such as Ontario to say that we are financing only 9% of health care. That is not right. If we add in the extra almost $10 billion that we pay in equalization, it would take the federal share to over 50%, assuming all equalization payments were spent on health care.
In conclusion, regardless of the figures and the debates, Canadians do not care whether health care is a federal, provincial, municipal or even United Nations jurisdiction. All they want is top quality health care when they need it. This is why they do not want their politicians bickering and fighting. Canadians have a right to be upset. When ambulances are diverted away from the nearest emergency ward, when people are let out of the hospital too soon and do not have adequate alternative care or home care, when there are long waiting lines and when people are being shipped to the U.S. for health care treatment, Canadians expect their political representatives at all levels to work together to make sure that Canadians continue to have top quality health care.
As the Prime Minister has said many times, we will not sacrifice the Canada Health Act. This is why we will not give additional money to the provinces until we sit down with them and work out the ways to have those funds directed for the benefit of all Canadians and to preserve the five principles of medicare. This is why we have called on the health ministers to come to Ottawa and discuss these issues with us, to work together. Canadians expect nothing less of their political representatives and they deserve that we get together to protect and preserve one of the greatest health care systems in the world.
