Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak on the 1999 federal government budget which I and my colleagues believe is increasingly being recognized more for its usefulness as a public relations tool than for its substantive impact on the lives of Canadians.
I want to begin by following up on the comments made by a colleague of mine, the Liberal member for Saint Boniface, who tried to suggest that it was perfectly legitimate for this government to spend $3.6 million advertising this budget on the grounds that it was providing some sort of public service to Canadians. I would urge all members across the way to look at the ads, listen to the radio ads and tell me where there is any element of public service. It is absolutely clear that the expenditure of $3.6 million does nothing more than provide a public relations exercise for this government to deal with its political crisis. It is sheer propaganda. There is no public service in those ads.
I ask the question: Is it not obvious that these ads are necessary because the government failed to convince Canadians that this truly was a health care budget? Is it the case that Canadians, and particularly Manitobans, are seeing through this government's propaganda and in fact recognizing that the Liberals are putting back a little bit of what they took out of our health care system and acknowledging that we are in this crisis today in large measure because of Liberal government policy to begin with?
My question today and every day will be: Will the government put all of the money that is available for health care into patient care and not into propaganda?
There are two criteria by which one must address any federal budget. The first is to ask the question: Does the budget serve as a road map for achieving the stated objectives and goals of the government? The dilemma for the government is: How does it map out a strategy if it has not been able to recognize the critical nature of the health care system or to recognize its own responsibility and culpability in the chaos that we are now finding in our health care system right across this country?
I do not need to remind my colleagues in the House that it was just a couple of months ago that members on the Liberal benches stood in the House and suggested that there was not a crisis in our health care system. They ridiculed members in my caucus and, by implication, all Canadians who were raising concerns about the crisis that we were finding in health care systems from one end of this country to the other.
There is no question that all across Canada—and Canadians know this—years of federal neglect and cutbacks have taken their toll. But the fact that the Liberal government felt compelled to come up with a so-called health budget resulted from the cries and pleas of hundreds of thousands of Canadians who faxed, who wrote, who spoke out, who yelled from the rooftops about the impact of federal Liberal decisions on our health care system. It was only with constant public and political pressure, and a relentless stream of individual horror stories, that the government finally was forced to at least acknowledge some of the problems at play in Canada's health care system and to put some money back into health care.
The other criteria by which one must analyse any federal budget is to ask whether the budget seeks to improve the lives of Canadians. How does it shape the economic and social realities of its citizens? The main purpose of a budget is to show Canadians what are its values, what are its priorities and it makes political choices based on those priorities and values.
When a government then chooses a tax break of $8,000 for a millionaire and does nothing for a single parent on social assistance, it shows that its values are fundamentally one sided. When it engages in incredible hoopla about a health care budget but fails to address the long term survival of Canada's health care system, it shows that the priorities of the government are shortsighted and politically motivated.
Canadians have now had a chance to look closely at this so-called health budget. In their reflection I think they bring to mind that old saying “If you are starving you do not refuse a meal”. The fact that there is money for health care is certainly an improvement after years of cuts. I will acknowledge that and my colleagues have acknowledged that. Health researchers have indicated that they are pleased there is some additional money for them. Nurses, although still worried about how they will survive in their jobs, have acknowledged that at least the government is prepared to spend a little money to look into the problems of the profession.
However, after all is said and done, it is clear to Canadians with every day that passes that there is very little in this budget to ensure the preservation and strengthening of medicare in this country. There is absolutely no attempt to look at and address the root causes of ill health and there was not even a signal that this government is prepared to keep up to its promises around a national home care plan and a national drug plan, both of which are desperately needed in this country today.
What is so striking about this budget, when we strip away all the hype, is just how little it offers. This is truly a lesson in underachievement. It may solve the Liberals' political crisis, but it does not come close to solving the Canadian health care crisis.
If there ever was an opportunity to take dramatic steps to set things right after the damage this government has done, this was it. The deficit was gone and enough surplus money was there to make a difference. But instead, by holding back, Canadians will have to wait five years just to return to where they were on health care in 1995.
Let us for a second put the health budget in perspective. Liberal cuts to the Canada health and social transfer since 1995 now amount to $21.5 billion and more than half of that is in health funding. This year the budget puts back only $2 billion, not quite the cause for celebration we have been led to believe.
Members of the government keep repeating $11.5 billion. That is what they want us to remember about the budget. What they want us to forget is that the $11.5 billion is spread over five years.
It gets worse. We will not get the ongoing benefit of the $11.5 billion because it is not cumulative. By the end of the next five years only $2.5 billion will have been permanently added to the transfer. It is like a wage bonus, instead of a wage increase. It is a one time fix that leaves us no further ahead. Where does that put us in terms of the federal share of health care spending in this country? Where does that put us from the days when it used to be 50:50 federal-provincial cost sharing? Where does it put us in terms of when this government took over in 1993, holding an 18% share of health care spending in this country? At the end of five years this budget, by all accounts, will get us up to 12.5% of all health care spending.
I remind all members opposite of the advice of their former adviser, Tom Kent, who said that it is absolutely imperative as a starting point for the federal share to get as quickly as possible up to 25%. Only then will we have the ability to ensure that medicare is preserved, strengthened and enhanced.
The government has made a small step toward accepting the blame for the health care crisis that it has contributed to. There is some repentance in this budget.
Our challenge to all members of the Liberal government is to develop policies, think creatively and pursue noble goals around actually preserving our medicare model. It will not happen at this rate. The private control of health care is increasing at a rapid rate. Members across the way, especially those from Ontario, will know what has happened to the home care system in that province and how big, private owned American companies like Olsten are taking over the health care system.
I urge members opposite to join with us in preserving medicare and ensuring that the principles of medicare are applied to the whole continuum of care.