Peter Stoffer

[Committees Of The House, June 5th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, if the House gives its consent, I move that the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans presented to the House earlier this day be concurred in.

[Committees Of The House, June 5th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present in both official languages the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), your committee recommends that it be granted leave to travel from October 15 to 25, 2000 to Quebec, New Brunswick, Maine, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and P.E.I. to continue its comprehensive study on aquaculture, the statutory review of the Oceans Act and of other fisheries issues; that the committee be composed of two Canadian Alliance members, one Bloc member, one NDP member, one PC member and five Liberals; and that the necessary staff do accompany the committee.

If the House gives its consent, I intend to move concurrence in the sixth report later this day.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, June 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I did appreciate the attitude and approach of my hon. colleague from Kings—Hants and his party. We on this side of the House support that initiative as well.

It was his government, the Conservatives, that brought us the dreaded GST. Now the Liberals in Atlantic Canada have tacked on the HSC which has created quite the underground economy. Last year, according to the auditor general, federally and provincially that equated to almost $12 billion of untaxed underground economy going on in this country.

What does the hon. member, who is the finance critic for his party, and his party plan to do to reduce the underground economy and start reducing or eliminating the dreaded GST?

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, June 5th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, I have a question for my good friend from Cape Breton. The question concerns what is happening to the economy in terms of the thousands of men who are losing their jobs and the effect that will have on the women and children, their families.

The women and children are usually the forgotten ones when it comes to budgets and tax cuts. What happens to the women and children when their husbands, in the traditional roles of Cape Breton miners and steelworkers, lose their jobs due to economic concerns? The Liberal government basically forgets that Cape Breton Island even exists.

From her own personal experience, if the hon. member could elaborate a bit more on that, I am sure the House would be greatly enlightened by her wit and wisdom.

[Budget Implementation Act, 2000, June 5th, 2000]

Madam Speaker, one of the great platforms of the New Democratic Party is the reduction of the dreaded GST and in Atlantic Canada the HST. Could my hon. colleague from Regina elaborate on what a reduction of the GST would do for all Canadians?

[The Late Maurice Richard, May 29th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a great hockey player, Canadian and Quebecer.

In Canada there is a game Where there is one that lit the flame

He played right wing and wore number 9 In the post-war era the greatest of his time.

He skated with his brother the fans called “the pocket” The world knew him as the one we called “Rocket”

He played every shift with pride and desire With the game on the line and his eyes on fire.

Untouchable he was from blue line to crease And when he would score we would all shout “Maurice”.

There were only six teams in the old NHL To future generations his legend will tell

Of how he could skate and never let up So his beloved Habs could drink from the Cup.

He is now in Montreal in the province of Quebec Where the fans will line up and pay their respects

To many of us Richard was the best For now in God's hands we lay him to rest.

[Supply, May 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member, who himself is a physician, for his question. Unfortunately I do not know about the situation at Wolfville at all. It is the first I have heard of it and I apologize for not knowing about it.

I will relate an experience that I do know. Dr. Herb Dickieson, who is the leader of the Prince Edward Island New Democrats, was elected in 1995 because he stood on the principle that he did not want his O'Leary hospital closed. At that time the government of the day in Prince Edward Island was going to shut it down. He fought along with the citizens of that area to keep that hospital open. I am not aware of what he did in terms of funding in order to keep the hospital open.

I can only say to the people of Wolfville that I would assume, and I do not know this for sure, that they probably would not have had to go to the user fee aspect if all governments had respected and honoured the commitment of dollars to that hospital and had not put those people in that situation in the first place. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I am sure they do not like charging user fees for other things as well.

In retrospect, I would have to say that without knowing the incident, those people did what they felt they had to do and there is not much I can say about it. I wish them well in their endeavours but the fact is, if provincial and federal governments did not download and shirk their responsibilities, the people probably would not have faced that situation in the first place.

[Supply, May 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, before I start on this very important issue, I just want to say that I could not help but notice what a great place the House of Commons is for our pages who come from all parts of the country to work and use up their first year of university education.

It is doubly exciting to know that one of those pages is with us today in the capacity of our Hansard concerns. It is wonderful to see them use the experience they gain as pages in the House to secure gainful employment in the House of Commons in other capacities. It is wonderful to see. It is a great improvement for our young people.

Speaking about young people and what we hope to give them in the future, we in the New Democratic Party hold health care as the primary issue. It is the core of what we do in most cases. It is the aspect of why people like Tommy Douglas, M. J. Coldwell and many others brought the issue to the forefront time and time again. I also wish to say that I will be splitting my time with the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle.

I had mentioned to the member for Vancouver Quadra that in Nova Scotia we have a critical shortage of doctors. We also have a critical shortage of nurses. There is a lack of dollars in what the federal government is transferring to the province. The provincial Conservative Party said during its last campaign that health care would not be reduced in any way, shape and form. Then it took $51 million from health care in the recent provincial budget.

That instils fear in the people in rural parts of my riding. Indeed that is the case in all of Atlantic Canada and in Nova Scotia especially. It instils fear in seniors, people of fixed incomes and single mothers with children. They wonder what will happen to them if they become seriously ill. Will the hospital remain open? Will there be an ambulance for them? Will they be able to afford the so-called extra user fees that are being charged?

Right now pharmacare for seniors in Nova Scotia has gone up another $160 per person. They simply cannot afford that. Any government, municipal, provincial or federal, should not balance its books on the backs of our most vulnerable people, our seniors. In many cases they are veterans who fought overseas and lost their brothers and sisters. Many of them raised their families during the depression, during war and during the post-war eras as well. It is absolutely unacceptable for governments to treat them that way in their golden years.

Our seniors are our knowledge base. We talk about a knowledge based economy. Our seniors have more history and more knowledge than we could ever care to think about. For governments to treat them as a cash cow on which to balance their books is simply unacceptable. There are many other avenues on which to balance the books without taking it out on our seniors, especially those in the beautiful province of Nova Scotia.

In terms of the hospitals right now, the stress within hospitals is phenomenal. In the news today the husband of a personal friend of mine required bypass surgery. He went to the hospital the other day and waited seven hours for his surgery. He was told at the last minute that his surgery had been cancelled and he would have to come back another day. This is the type of health care we are giving people in Nova Scotia. This man happens to be 63 years old.

Can we imagine the confidence the youth of the country would have in the health care system as they go through life after reading stories like this one? It is sometimes amazing and sometimes not very surprising at all why some people choose greener pastures in other parts of the world when they leave Canada. We in the House all say that Canada is the number one country in the world. One of the reasons for saying that is our health care system or our medicare system. It is absolutely unacceptable that governments at all levels in all provinces have been chipping away at that most basic and fundamental foundation by which we define ourselves as Canadians.

Other hon. members have mentioned that it is time for the Minister of Health, along with all premiers of other provinces, territorial leaders and aboriginal leaders, to get together in a health care summit to start defining the health care of the future.

In poll after poll the people of Canada have demanded through their tax dollars a publicly funded not for profit health care system. This is what Canadians want. This is what they are saying loud and clear. It is not very difficult. They are asking for a publicly funded not for profit health care system to be available for everybody from coast to coast to coast, no matter what their income and where they live. In the unlikely event that they require emergency health care, long term health care, or any health care under any circumstance, they want the service to be there for them. Right now many Canadians are losing trust and faith in the system. It is absolutely unacceptable that we as members of parliament, the leaders of the country, are saying to them that we really do not know the future of health care.

I always like to recite the story of when Tommy Douglas first introduced health care. He was hung in effigy by doctors in Saskatchewan. He was considered Satan. They asked how he could take away the right to earn dollars from medicine and socialize medicine, how he could possibly think like that.

Many New Democrat members of parliament were at the Canadian Medical Association awards dinner the year before last when Tommy Douglas was posthumously inducted to the Canadian Medical Association Hall of Fame. This just showed how ahead of the times he was. He personally fought battles so that the experiences he had would not happen to any child in the country. Our party and indeed all Canadians owe Mr. Douglas, Mr. Coldwell and many others in the movement a sincere debt of gratitude. Without them we probably would not be having this debate today and we would probably be into the American style right now.

It is unacceptable that many groups would love to see a two tier system. Insurance companies would love it. American multinational corporations would love it. Health care spending is anywhere from $40 billion to $90 billion. The figures bounce around a lot. Many private businesses would love to get their hands on that. The fact is that it would place a tremendous burden on those Canadians who cannot afford it, those Canadians who are on fixed incomes, and those Canadians who do not have the wherewithal to compete like that.

I should remind the House that according to the latest statistics from the United States 43 million Americans have no access to health care services, a land that calls itself the land of the great, the home of the brave, the land of great democracy. I would hate to be in the House years from now saying that three million Canadians have no access to health care. That would be a disgraceful thing to have to say.

It is why the New Democrats have brought forth this motion today, so we can stress to the public and fellow members of parliament from all parties the seriousness of this issue. We cannot allow health care to be eroded any more than it has now. We have to reinvest in health care and understand that it is the core public concern today. Everyone talks about health care.

For all governments at all levels to sit back and say that they will think about it and that they are gravely concerned about it is absolutely unacceptable. We have to put those words into action. Part of that action starts with this motion today.

I encourage all members of parliament to think deeply, to look into their hearts and talk to their constituents. See what they say about this motion and what they are saying about health care. I am sure they would find that the majority of people in their ridings agree with us.

Members themselves probably would agree as well, if they would get away from the politics of it and understand what defines us as Canadians. Members should forget about being Liberal, Canadian Alliance, Bloc Quebecois, Tory or New Democrat and think in terms of being fellow Canadians, and to know that no matter where they go in the country if they become ill they will have the best quality health care possible. People should not have to go into a hospital wondering whether they have enough money for a particular procedure. That would be unacceptable.

If I can do one thing in this House of Commons as a member of parliament for my own two children, it is to stand and fight for the number one concern of Canadians, which is health care. That is why I am standing today on this very important subject. I want my children to have the same access to health care that I had when I broke my leg, when I had my appendix out, when I had my tonsils out, when I fell out of a tree, landed on a fence and stayed for a week at the Vancouver children's hospital back in the 1960s.

I had access in all those instances. My parents had nine children and ran a group home for over 400 children. All those kids had access to health care as well. We have to be able to say that 20 or 30 years from now the children of tomorrow will have the same quality access I had when I was a young man.

I thank the House for the opportunity to speak to this very important motion. I literally beg all members of parliament from all parties to seriously consider this motion and to support the New Democrats on this one.

[Supply, May 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I have great respect for the member for Vancouver Quadra, but in a province like Nova Scotia, for example, we have a critical shortage right now of nurses and doctors. There is no light at the end of the tunnel that this situation will improve.

I ask the member for Vancouver Quadra who is a representative of the Government of Canada what his government will do to address the very serious situation of the shortage of nurses and doctors not only in Atlantic Canada but in more rural parts of the country.

[Supply, May 18th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I commend the hon. member from the Conservative Party for his fight when it came to the hepatitis C battles and his efforts in his province to fight for medicare as well. But there is a contradiction when the Tories talk about health care.

Recently at a byelection in St. John's West, which the NDP came very close to winning, the Conservative member said that one of the greatest things he will do is fight for health care. He will fight for the universal, not for profit health care system in this country. Yet his leader, Joe Clark, said that he supports bill 11 in Alberta. The problem is, does the member not agree there may be a contradiction in that? The member for St. John's West said he would fight for health care, yet the leader of the Conservative Party said he supports some sort of tinkering with the private system.

I believe that is some form of contradiction. I would like the member to comment on that.