Madam Speaker, this is a very important and hugely interesting debate for all Canadians wherever they live in this great country. Health care is a very important issue and Canadians expect all levels of government to take a keen and important interest in this kind of issue because it is so important not only to individuals but to the families of Canadians.
I am a farmer and still live on the family farm. When I heard the member opposite talk about a manure pit, it really rankled me a little bit because, as the hon. member for Peterborough indicated, we are talking about money for students and money for the disabled. We are talking about money for important initiatives that the Government of Canada helps to fund. It is quite something to hear Reformers talk about manure. All they are noted for is a lot of crap.
Having said that, this particular motion is really insincere. It is replete with duplicity and hypocrisy.
On February 23, under solution number 17, the members of the Reform Party had their chance to spell out in the prebudget alternative issues what they would do in health care. What did they say? They said that it would add zero dollars.
Today, with their smiling faces and great duplicity, they have stood and pretended to defend medicare, to defend what Canadians hold near and dear, our health care system. It is galling to hear Reformers talk the way they talk because we know what they stand for. They stand for two tier American style health care. No matter how they protest, no matter how they caterwaul away and try to pretend that they are not up to their necks in an American two-tiered system, they are.
Canadians see through these people and through their hypocrisy. Canadians, quite frankly, reject that. I can quote the Reform Party leader and member after member who have over the past little while talked in terms of American style health care and a two-tiered system. We are not going to take it. Canadians will reject it and the government stands firm.
When we brought the budget down this past February, it was clear that we not only had a commitment last year of $11.5 billion, but we had a commitment this year as well. We gave another $2.5 billion over to the provinces and territories to use as they saw fit. They could spend some on education. They could spend some on health. They had the ability to use the money in a very meaningful way and with great flexibility built in and know that the Government of Canada would be there for them when it counted.
When the Minister of Health meets with his territorial and provincial counterparts in May, we will have an opportunity to bring the partners and stakeholders together on this very important issue and see where we will go in health care. It is not always about throwing money at the system. It is about how best to approach the system and make it work better into the 21st century.
There are all kinds of ideas that need to be looked at. Three come to mind very quickly. First, is there a better way to provide primary care in Canada? Primary care and its delivery are important topics that we need to look at. I am pleased that the Minister of Health and his counterparts in the territories and provinces will do precisely that. They will take a look at how best to approach that very important area.
Second, how best can we take a look at home care and community care, and are there national standards? Is there a standard that can apply to Canada in terms of how best to provide that? As the House knows, that is an important and integral part of the health care delivery system in Canada. We want to examine that.
As chair of the Standing Committee on Health, I can tell the House that I have been very involved in that debate and that process. I have attended conferences and have talked to people across Canada on how best to deliver that to Canadians in a good, positive and meaningful way. With our aging society, that will be the way of the world and the way of the future. We need to ensure that we have a system in place that instead of being a patchwork system across Canada, will be in the best interests of Canadians and their families.
The third thing I want to touch on in terms of what the health minister and his counterparts in the provinces and territories should look at is the whole issue of accountability.
Canadians want the health care system to be accountable. We need to look at that and we need to put in place the checks and balances that will enable us, in a very meaningful and positive way, to have a system of accountability that makes sense to ordinary Canadians.
We will take a look at that and we will do it in a way that underscores the commitment of the Government of Canada, unlike the Reformers who would gut the system, who would add no cash to the system and who would tear the system apart because that is what they are known for and what they are good at. At every opportunity those people opposite have tried to pit region against region, province against province and group against group to tear at the very fabric of Canadian society.
We do not have to go very far to see that. They are always trying to chip away at the institutions of our great country. Instead of, for example, celebrating the supreme court and the fact that our supreme court is considered around the world to be one of the finest, what do they do every chance they get? They tear at the very fabric of that great institution. Every chance they get they try to tear down the values of Canada and tear away at the very symbols of our country and they do it in the most outrageous sense.
It struck me not so long ago that this was the party that was going to bring a fresh start to parliament. What did we see the Reformers do? The first thing they did was call in the limousine and move into Stornoway.
What was one of the next things they did? They marched up and down these grand halls of democracy with mariachi bands, burritos and all kinds of stuff sticking out of their mouths, denigrating the halls of parliament. Canadians see through that. Canadians will not stand for that kind of nonsense from a party that claimed it would bring a fresh start to parliament, that claimed it would bring fresh air and a new way of doing business in parliament.
The flag flap was another interesting debate. I distinctly remember the member for Medicine Hat taking the Canadian flag from his desk and throwing it unceremoniously to the centre of the floor of the House of Commons. A fresh start, they say, a new way of doing business, they say. The flag flap, the throwing of the Canadian flag on the floor of the House of Commons, the marching up and down the hallowed halls of democracy in this land with mariachi bands and sombreros, imagine. Where was the leader at the time of the Nisga'a treaty? He was in Mexico sunning himself on the beaches. Imagine the duplicity. Imagine the hypocrisy of these people.
We see this again today when they come in with crocodile tears talking about the health care system and what they want to do. Canadians see through it. Canadians will not stand for what they stand for. They will reject it every time.
Reformers cannot even get their act together. They are so far on the right wing that they do not even know where to begin to get their people rallied because they do not know how. They, along with this motion, will ultimately be thrown into the dustbin of history where they so duly belong.
We on the government side will continue to protect the values of Canada. We will continue to protect the health care system that we know is important. Canadians look to us to provide that. They look to the federal government to give the kind of leadership necessary in this very important area. We will continue to do that. Unlike the Reformers, we will do it with honour and with dignity for all Canadians.
