Jean Chrétien

[Health, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the largest sums allocated by this government over the past several years in all sectors have been in health care.

I want to inform the member for the Bloc Quebecois that the province in which the provincial government spends the least per capita on health care is Quebec. All the other provinces, including Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and New Brunswick, which are not considered wealthy provinces, spend more per capita, in provincial funds, than the PQ government.

[Health, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, very often, the provincial governments and the federal government have similar priorities; this is normal. We all want better health for everyone. However, we must ensure that the money the federal government has put on the table will actually be used, in each province, to achieve the objectives that all Canadians want to achieve.

[Health, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health has been in touch with her colleagues for weeks and weeks, discussing what should be the priorities to have a better health system in Canada.

The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs has met and discussed this with his colleagues. He has also had some private discussions with some of the premiers.

I am telling the member that I am hopeful of having a meaningful agreement. We are willing to put some more money on the table, but we want to make sure that the money is used in order to really improve the system, and yes, it is very important that we have service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, for the people of Canada and we will take the--

[Health, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, in October 2000 we reached an agreement that was approved by all the premiers, which provided for an increase of more than $21 billion over five years. We are having a meeting next week and I intend to do the same thing.

However, the position of the Government of Canada is to ensure that the money put on the table will truly be used to renew health care services for Canadians.

We warned the provinces before and they have held a meeting before. We told them about our position before so that over the next few days we can find common ground. I am quite confident that we will come to an agreement next week.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party is against going to war under just any circumstances. He says we must act in conjunction with the United Nations; that is exactly the position taken by our government. A resolution was passed unanimously and must be complied with. It is up to Saddam Hussein alone to comply with it. The resolution sets out what must be done if he does not respect the conditions.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, it is exactly the position we took in August last year. We asked the Americans to follow the process of the United Nations, to go and seek the authorization from the Security Council. They were very hesitant to do that last summer. We talked with them and we talked with the others. We talked particularly with the Prime Minister of Great Britain, who went specifically in October after we had a discussion. He went, and I think Canada played a role in convincing the Brits, to make it very clear that they have to have a resolution from the Security Council.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

We always have. It is a question of confidence in the government. The government, in matters of that nature, makes the decision and goes to the House of Commons for the support of the House of Commons. It is the process that has been followed in Canada for a long, long time, and that had been followed in the case of Kosovo a few years ago, when we were in a formal war at that time. We intend to follow the same process in the future.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, we have always followed the procedures and we always have debated in the House of Commons on that.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

First, Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer my congratulations to the hon. member for the valiant effort he made.

To reply to his question, yes we do think the inspectors need more time to present a report to the United Nations Security Council. When they present their report we will be in a position to advise on the second one.

[Iraq, January 27th, 2003]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's position has always been very clear. Our position is based on resolution 1141 and, at this point, we are waiting for the inspectors' reports. One report was tabled this morning, but it is not conclusive, it is not adequate. We are waiting for the other reports before taking a stand.

However, we were the first ones to tell the United States that Canada demanded that they go before the Security Council, something they were reluctant to do in August, but agreed to do in October.