Allan Rock

[The Budget, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I will respond notwithstanding the way the member put the question.

Let me make clear to the hon. member that we have no apologies to make for the budget and the investment we have made in health.

If the hon. member would look at the budget, if he knew what he was talking about, he would see $214 million worth of caregiver tax credit. We believe we should support people who are helping others at home. He would see some $42 million a year for the next five years on an AIDS strategy. He would see $60 million for a new blood system. He would see that we are spending $150 million over the next two years for transition into a new health system.

[The Budget, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, this may come as news to the hon. member, but the health care system in Canada was never in greater jeopardy than when her party presided over this House. We faced a deficit so huge that it threatened to engulf all of our social programs.

For that member to stand in this House and to tell us that we are not acting to preserve it strains the credulity. We are the party that understands how to preserve health care in Canada.

[Health, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member can play with words if he likes.

The bottom line is that as a result of our decisions, the very first major decisions taken after we put the fiscal house in order, the provinces are going to have $7 billion more money than they would have over the next four years. That is money for hospitals, that is money for treatment, that is money for health.

[Health Care, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, there is an irony that this question comes from the leader of the party whose platform was to eliminate altogether cash transfers to the provinces.

This is a government that will not take that approach. We will not gut medicare. We will not destroy the role of the federal government in enforcing its standards and its principles because we believe in medicare for now and for the future.

[Health Care, February 26th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member should recall that the very first thing the government did, when economic prospects improved and the fiscal house was in order, was to forego cuts in transfers to the provinces and add $7 billion of additional revenue over the next four years.

The hon. member can scoff all she wants, but that money is available for hospitals, for technology and for treatment. I hope that those provincial governments follow our lead and put the priority on health care and education.

[Hepatitis C Victims, February 24th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is in the best interest of the victims of this tragedy for both levels of government, federal and provincial, to work together to compensate victims.

I am working on it. I have already met with my counterparts and I hope that, within a few days, we will be in a position to meet these important needs.

[Research Funding, February 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we have already shown we are fully aware of the importance of research here in Canada.

As my colleague has just said, please wait until next week when we bring down the budget. We will then have an opportunity to show what the government does. We are obviously very aware of the importance of research in Canada.

[Health, February 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, unlike the hon. member, my interest is not in scoring cheap political points. My interest is in serving the victims' interests.

If this member would speak to his Tory cousins in Ontario, speak to his Tory cousins in Manitoba, if he would communicate with the Tories across this country, maybe we could get together and do something for the victims.

This is not a debate about fiscal federalism. This is about serving the interests of innocent victims. The member ought to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

[Health, February 20th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, no one would be happier than I with a compensation package for hepatitis C victims who are after all bearing notwithstanding their innocence, the consequences of this tragedy.

I also believe strongly that the interests of those victims are best served with a package of compensation that involves both levels of government. So I am prepared to wait a little longer to see if we can get an agreement with the provincial ministers.

I do tell the House in response to the member's question that this government will not walk away from its responsibilities and at the end of the day will discharge those responsibilities.

[Health Care, February 19th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we have already started to reinvest. The very first thing this government did, the first step we took after restoring fiscal sanity to the country was to reinvest $1.5 billion in transfers to the provinces. We established a stable cash floor in exactly the amount that was recommended by the National Forum on Health. If the hon. member would pay more attention to the facts than the characteristically empty rhetoric of the NDP, we would be a lot further ahead.