Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here this morning to speak about the budget and the number one issue on the minds of Canadians, the future of health care. It is an issue that is very dear to my heart and one that I can speak of from a unique vantage point.
As a former provincial minister of health, I saw firsthand the challenges the provinces face in providing quality health care under difficult financial circumstances. As Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Health, I have seen health care challenges from the national perspective.
I am particularly pleased to be speaking at this time when the future of medicare has never been brighter, a time when the federal government is in a strong financial position, a time when federal dollars will be making a positive difference in the accessibility of quality health care in this country.
Through sound fiscal management, a downward trend toward lower taxes, the government's focus on reducing the debt and through a significant investment in research and development, Canada is moving forward. This budget will make a real difference in health and health care in this country.
There was a time not long ago when babies were born at home, not by choice but because their families could not afford to go to the doctor. Often care was not sought until it was too late to save a patient. People died from measles, mumps and chicken pox because there was no vaccine to prevent or to respond to an outbreak.
It is good to remember those times. We are reminded of how fragile the human condition is and of the importance of protecting Canadian medicare, which protects all of us.
The conditions that I described did not just happen in the middle ages or even at the turn of the century. I am talking about this century, the fifties and the early sixties, before Tommy Douglas advocated the first provincial medicare plan, before the Liberal government in Ottawa established medicare to serve all Canadians regardless of their income or their postal code.
Fifty years ago my husband lost his mother to breast cancer. My father-in-law lost not only his wife but his business too. Yes, it cost him dearly.
We only have to look south of the border to see what kind of system we could have had: one for the rich, another for the poor and no access for many. We only have to ask Canadians who have gone south without extra medical coverage, some who have had to remortgage their homes or take out bank loans because a loved one was in a car accident or suffered a heart attack while on vacation.
Yes, we Canadians have taken a lot for granted. We have expected that a person would get a job when they turned 18 and would retire from that same job when they turned 65, that there would always be clean air and clean water and that there would always be a doctor, a nurse or a hospital nearby when we needed care. To that extent we have been fortunate in Canada. As the United Nations reminds us, we live in a country that for the sixth consecutive year has ranked number one in the world as the best place to live.
However, in the last decade we have learned a few lessons. We cannot live on borrowed money forever. We have learned that the resources of this country are not limitless. Perhaps the greatest lesson that we have learned is one of individual responsibility, which ironically is the theme that has been echoed through the great works of the early philosophers. Accepting personal responsibility is a hard lesson. But learning responsibility has been important to all of us; to learn to appreciate the things we have and what is most important to us, setting priorities.
There is an old saying which people say whenever they are down or whenever they are broke: “At least you have your health”. Aside from their families, I believe what Canadians cherish the most is their health. They also cherish the quality of health care which they have come to rely on.
A mother wants to know that there is a doctor in the emergency room when she brings her sick baby to the hospital. A heart patient wants to know that there is an operating room available 24 hours a day. A family wants to know that their elderly mother will have nursing home care when she is too ill, too frail to look after herself, but wants to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.
Our government understands. We understand the importance of not just preserving medicare, but continuing to make it better. That is going to take more than just money. That is why the Liberal government has invested another $11.5 billion in health care over the next five years. We as a government have a responsibility to the people of Canada today and in the future.
Part of that responsibility has been to put our own fiscal house in order and to eliminate the deficit. We know that in times past it has been very difficult because of that deficit for the government to be able to act on behalf of Canadians, to put this country's social programs on a firm fiscal foundation. Without that foundation, given the challenges of change, Canadian health care was seen as a house of cards just waiting for a strong wind to make it collapse.
Today the future is bright. As we go forward into the future we must never forget the lessons we have learned from the past. We have learned to stop treating medicare like an illness and hopefully we will start treating it like a patient. Treating it like an illness meant that we lurched from crisis to crisis, never certain of what the future would hold. Ensuring the future of medicare means that we needed to stop using band-aid solutions. We needed to look at the overall health of medicare. We needed to listen to experts. We wanted to listen to Canadians. Then we had to establish priorities for the future.
That is why our government established the National Forum on Health. That is why we developed a plan for the future. The cornerstone of that plan is the recognition that the provinces have their job to do in renewing and strengthening the delivery of services. To do that job successfully they need the security of long term, stable funding from the federal government.
We agreed to provide that guaranteed funding, $11.5 billion for medicare over a five year period. That is the largest health transfer payment to the provinces in the past two decades. I want to emphasize that not even five years ago was this kind of investment possible. It is possible today because the Liberal government made the hard choices over the last five years and took our fiscal responsibility very seriously. Now we are able to look to the future with confidence.
People are already seeing the differences of additional funding and what that is making happen in the provinces. The provinces which have the responsibility for service delivery are already announcing the re-opening of emergency wards and the provision of other services which are necessary to secure the health of Canadians everywhere.
The federal government has a responsibility beyond providing money. Our responsibility goes beyond just giving the provinces money and we are taking those responsibilities very seriously.
A key role the federal government plays nationally is working with our partners to prevent and promote good health. That means making health information available to Canadians to help them make the right choices, to inform people, especially our youth, about the hazards of smoking, drinking and taking drugs, and to help young families make healthful choices.
This budget will help improve the overall health of Canadians, particularly Canadians who fall through the cracks because we are taking an early intervention approach. Rather than waiting to treat, we are intervening to prevent. We are being proactive. We are assisting pregnant women. We are also dealing with issues like contaminated foods before they happen. We are investing money to strengthen the federal food safety program. Rather than just spending money after the fact to treat environmental illnesses, we are being proactive. We are providing management for the control of toxic substances. Rather than ignoring the needs of rural Canadians, we are looking at ways to improve services for rural and remote communities. We want to use Tele-health and the new technologies that are available.
Three hundred and twenty-eight million dollars is available to further develop health information systems that will link together all of those who provide care through national networks. In these ways the Liberal government is showing leadership in working with the provinces to re-invent medicare, with an emphasis on appropriately treating the patient, not just the disease.
There is much more to do. I believe that Canadian medicare must adopt an accountable, integrated approach to health care, one which will bring together hospital resources with all other health services to meet the needs of our communities. Canadian medical and scientific professionals must share best practices and focus on outcomes.
We must move toward a system that breaks down the silos and puts an end, once and for all, to the turf wars that have plagued medicare in the past.
Our aim as we move forward into this new era is to work together and to empower ordinary Canadians. Today medicare in Canada is stronger than ever thanks to the commitment, in writing, of provincial governments across this country. We are determined to create a real system that will be there for all Canadians when they need it. This budget will help to do that.
