Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to enter the debate on Bill C-13. My colleague from the Bloc hopes that Liberal members will listen. I hate to give him bad news but I doubt that will actually happen. However, we will keep speaking.
The bill goes in the right direction in some areas. I will quote a bit of its preamble wherein it says:
Whereas parliament recognizes that Canadians value health as central to happiness and fulfilment, and aspire to be among the healthiest people in the world.
I agree with that and I think all members of the House would agree with that. If that is something the government is intending to put into place, and we encourage it to do so, I believe it is necessary for it to take actions to back up those words.
If we take a look at the actions of the government going back to 1993 in the area of health, we see that the government has taken money out of the Canadian health care system. I believe a total of about $21 billion in health care and education has been taken out since 1993.
Day after day in this place we hear the finance minister refer to what would happen if other parties were in power and all kinds of statements which deflect the fact that the government must stand on its own record. It is the case for any government that it will be judged on what it has done, its actions, what it actually delivered, and not just on its words.
We have seen time and time again in this place that the government will say one thing and do another. My colleague from the Bloc referred to that. If it can create the perception with the general public that it is doing something then it has won the battle. It does not seem to be interested in making the actual applications and changes in law that will have a direct impact and effect on the end user of any system. Bill C-13 goes in the right direction. We would like the government to take those steps in other areas as well.
I met with a constituent on Monday this week at home before I left to come here who had some really serious questions in the area of health care, which is what we are talking about in Bill C-13. He is a young man who was infected with hepatitis C through no fault of his own as a result of a blood transfusion. He is still a young man. He told me his story of what this meant to him and his family, how he had received a transfusion and years later when the issue came out was encouraged by his wife to get tested.
He put that off, understandably so, because of the ramifications that would impact on him and his family if he were to find out that he tested positive for hepatitis C. Finally he did get tested and it was found that he had hepatitis C. It has totally changed his life and perspective. I must compliment him. He is still a positive individual who is looking for changes in many different areas, particularly with the implementation of the new blood system, hoping it does not follow on the failures of the old system.
In his letter Peter Madsen asked me if I would relay some questions to the Minister of Health on the particular area. He has given me permission to share it with others. He wrote:
Why does everyone in the HCV compensation package, from the lawyers and actuaries and committees etc., get guaranteed money except for the victims involved?
He went on to write:
If this government is sitting on such a surplus, why is the compensation package not guaranteed? What do you say to the kids who may not receive compensation because the money has run out?
These are questions on the area of health from my constituent who is looking for answers. He went on to write:
Is the government going to fight the lawyers $58.5 million asking price? This does not include the victims who must find lawyers to access their compensation.
Why was money taken out of the HCV funds to compensate secondarily infected HIV victims?
He concluded by writing:
Krever called for no-fault compensation...why then is the (Minister of Health) putting in as narrow a window as he thinks is the area of legal responsibility of the government and using this window as legal point to ignore Krever and ignore the pre-1986 and post post-1990 people, contrary to Krever?
Mr. Madsen had these comments for the Minister of Health. He ended his letter by writing:
This compensation package was rammed down our throats with our lawyers telling us that if we don't like it...too bad. We could opt out but then we would have to (a) find a lawyer and (b) wait many more years fighting more government lawyers. This was a closed door negotiation process with the victims having no say whether they liked it or not.
Those are questions that one of my constituents asked the minister about on that particular area of health care.
There are other Canadians who have many pressing questions for the government on its delivery of health care. As I mentioned, Bill C-13 goes in the right direction of one particular aspect of fixing the system to make it more effective in the area of research funding. If the government could take that same kind of approach with the health care system in general, as it has with this bill, the opposition would encourage it.
While Bill C-13 is not a perfect bill and there are areas that could be improved on, it goes in the right direction. I am afraid we cannot say that the Minister of Health is on the same track in terms of the overall health care system within our country. There are vast areas for improvement that the minister could act on immediately. We encourage the government to act on what Canadians hold so dearly, and that is fixing the health care system. Many times we hear the government say things but not back up those words with actions.
The bill also indicates that parliament is cognizant of an historic opportunity to transform health research in Canada. I would argue that same historic opportunity is being presented to the Liberal government as well in the area of health care. It has an opportunity to repair the damage that has been done. Much of that damage was inflicted by the government through its reduction of transfer payments to the provinces in the area of health care.
It has an historic opportunity to make right the wrongs it has inflicted on Canadians through its approach and through its funding cuts in health. We encourage the government to look on this as an opportunity to make right what is so clearly in need of help in the country.
We also encourage the government to look at all areas of its responsibility and to look for ways to make effective changes that set a positive course for Canadians.
I believe that is what Canadians are truly looking for from a government. They are looking for a group of individuals who come to this place to set out a vision for the country and then act on it by putting policies and platforms in place which would have the effect of what it says it will do.
In conclusion, if we walk outside this great place and look up to the bell tower we see engraved there, not far from where we are here, the phrase “Where there is no vision the people perish”. I would argue that the government is lacking in its vision in many areas.
This is one bill that moves in the right direction, and I compliment the government for that, but I would encourage it to move in the right direction in more areas than one small one.
If the Liberals will not move forward and make positive changes, we will certainly work hard to form the government to make the changes necessary to set the country back on its feet again with a positive, forward moving vision.
