Allan Rock

[Health Care, November 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member does not know what she is talking about. I am the Minister of Health who wrote to the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Alberta to express our opposition to the privatization of hospitals in Alberta.

There are two ways to kill medicare. You can do what the Reform Party wants to do and repeal the Canada Health Act, or you can do what the NDP wants to do and bankrupt the country by refusing to make the tough decisions to prioritize and invest where investment is needed.

This government knows how to do it. We will reinvest in health care. We will ensure the future of medicare in this country.

[Health Care, November 5th, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal Party of Canada introduced medicare in this country. The Liberal Party of Canada is responsible for medicare. This is a government that is committed to its principles, committed to the best and most responsive public health care system in the world. That is our philosophy. That is our commitment. That is exactly what we intend to do.

[Datura Stramonius, November 3rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, last week I clarified Health Canada's position. We are now looking into this whole question.

We know the risks associated with this substance and we are currently considering all our options, including that of adding this substance to schedule A, to ensure it is prohibited in Canada.

[Health Care, November 3rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians will not be distracted by this empty rhetoric from the member opposite. Canadians know the Reform Party would sweep away medicare. The Reform Party believes in American style health insurance.

Let me make it very clear for every member of the House. This Prime Minister and this government will never repeal the Canada Health Act because the Reform Party will never have the opportunity to serve in government.

[Health Care, November 3rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to know what to say about a party that would put a question like that, when the Reform Party would repeal the Canada Health Act.

This very member has been quoted in the House as calling the Canada Health Act an outdated piece of legislation. This very member called for something he terms medicare plus. We know what that is. It is American style health insurance. We will never have it in this country. Never.

[Health Care, November 3rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it is astonishing, indeed it is appalling how little this member and her party knows about which political figures and which parties in this country stand for Canada and its health care system.

[Health Care, November 3rd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, we have already started the reinvestment of which the Prime Minister has spoken. The era of cuts is well behind us. Having restored the fiscal solvency of the nation we now turn to restoring its most important programs.

The Prime Minister has said health will be the subject of our next major reinvestment. With our partners in the provinces we shall ensure, and Canadians can count on us to do so, the future of medicare in this country.

[Health, November 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, I would have thought the member and her party would support the government in what it is doing.

We are looking at the way the health protection branch is structured. We are looking at the quality of the personnel. We are looking at the way it makes decisions. We are looking for a way in which it can fulfil its important public function in a fashion that will hold the confidence of Canadians in an open and transparent process.

That is what health protection branch transition is all about. It is part of that process to go public, to have public consultation, to hold open meetings where everyone is present and to talk about these issues.

That is the process in which we are involved. We believe it is the right way to restore confidence in the health protection branch.

[Health, November 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, the member cannot have it both ways, both to criticize health protection branch for being secretive and looking only inward at itself and then to criticize the health protection branch when it goes across the country to hold public consultations about renewing itself and changing the way it does business to be more open and transparent.

That indeed is our objective, to ensure that the health protection branch does its job in a way that has the confidence of Canadians. We throw open the doors and windows, bring the public in and let them know how decisions about safety and health protection are made.

That is the point of the consultations. That is the point of health protection branch transition. It is a good process.

[Hepatitis C, November 2nd, 1998]

Mr. Speaker, it was precisely to avoid people having to go to court and the expense of litigation that governments got together and made the offer we have.

Now the parties have those details under discussion, how can we best accommodate the needs of the people who were infected. Let us let the parties work it out. They have been making progress.

What we can do is let that process continue. It is in the interests of the victims.