Mr. Speaker, congratulations on your appointment. I will be splitting my time with the member from Nanaimo.
First, I would like to thank my constituents of Charleswood--St. James--Assiniboia. This is the first time I have risen in the House since the election. I am honoured to have the opportunity to be their member in the House of Commons, and I look forward to working hard on their behalf.
I am also very pleased to give my full support to the measures contained in the Speech from the Throne.
On January 23 Canadians told us they wanted change and that is exactly what the new government will deliver. We are turning a new leaf in Ottawa, five new leaves, in fact. Unlike the previous government, we understand the importance of priorities, and we have set five.
Without clear priorities, as every Canadian knows, government accomplishes very little. The new government knows what is important. We are putting the interests of everyday Canadians first. We have a plan and we will deliver.
The first priority of our government is to clean up the mess that the previous government left in Ottawa. We will pass the federal accountability act. We will give Canadians open, accountable and honest government. We will ensure that the sponsorship scandal never happens again.
Canada's new government is going to provide real tax relief for working families. We will cut the GST from 7% to 6% to 5%. Cutting the GST will leave more money in the pockets of every Canadian, no matter their circumstances or their income.
Our third priority is to make our streets and communities safe. The new government will crack down on crime. Our message is simple: “If you do serious crime, your're going to do serious time”. We will also attack the root causes of crime so young people do not get into trouble in the first place.
Our fourth priority is to give direct help to parents for the high cost of raising children. Giving $1,200 in cash to parents of pre-school age children is a good start. We will also create more child care spaces across the country, and we will deliver twice as many dollars for our child care program than the Liberals ever did in 13 years.
Our fifth priority, and this is an area in which I am particularly interested, is we will work with the premiers to establish a patient wait time guarantee. Under the previous government, patient wait times nearly doubled. As the Supreme Court declared, and thousands of Canadian patients know, access to a waiting list is not access to health care. As a result, we are going to ensure that Canadians get the urgent medical help they need when they need it. The guarantee will ensure that if the people cannot get the medical care they need where they live, the public insurance will cover the cost of that care in a location where they can get the service.
We can and will achieve better results for the patients and maintain our universal health care system.
After 13 years of a Liberal government, 1.2 million Canadians do not have family physicians. We will increase our supply of health care professionals by cooperating with the provinces to expand educational programs. We will also work to integrate international medical graduates into our health care system. We will ensure that Canadians get the health care for which they have paid.
I also want to address an issue on which I have worked very hard in the previous Parliament as health critic for the Conservative Party. That is the issue of cancer and, in particular, the Canadian strategy for cancer control.
Cancer is a serious and growing threat to Canadians. Today, the Canadian Cancer Society released its annual cancer statistic. An estimated 153,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer this year and 70,400 will die unnecessarily.
After 13 years of Liberal government, our country still does not have a national cancer strategy, even though during the last 13 years, 1,885,200 Canadians have been diagnosed with cancer and 899,534 have died from this disease.
The Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control has been developed by over 700 cancer survivors and scores of the leading cancer agencies and advocacy groups throughout Canada.
On June 7, 2005, the House, with the support of all the federal parties, supported my motion to fully implement the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control. The motion also included mental illness, mental health and heart disease. Amazingly the previous Liberal government failed to act.
Canadians deserve better. This new government will provide consistent leadership in fighting cancer and other major diseases.
The Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control is an effective and innovative model that values the work of cancer experts and puts patients first. The previous government lacked the political will to implement it and put bureaucratic red tape before patients.
Canada's new government values the expertise of the cancer community. We will put patients first. We have the political will and we will act on the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control and fully implement and fund the strategy.
I would like to take a moment to discuss the strategy. The Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control funding will be arm's length to government. The network of experts of the council of the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control has spent six years developing this and is ready to serve the provinces and territories and Canadians to improve cancer prevention. The strategy will also better manage the patient's journey through the health care system and support those who care for cancer patients, including health care professionals, caregivers and family members.
We will also develop national disease specific strategies for other major illnesses, including mental health and heart disease.
As the official opposition's health critic, I worked hard to further the Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control. Our government will work even harder to implement it.
As Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, I want to advise hon. members present and all Canadians on the government's pandemic preparedness.
Although the timing of a pandemic is unpredictable, experts agree that future influenza pandemics are inevitable. At this time, there is no influenza pandemic anywhere in the world and there seems to be no new risk to human health. However, we need to be vigilant in monitoring the potential of a pandemic threat posed by avian flu and we must be prepared.
Therefore, the Government of Canada, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, has already developed a pandemic influenza plan to assist jurisdictions in preparing to respond appropriately when a pandemic hits. The plan will be augmented and improved in the near future.
We are one of the few countries to have in place a contract for pandemic vaccine production. We have plans to develop a prototype vaccine against the H5N1 influenza strain. We have created a national antiviral stockpile for use against such a pandemic. We are also providing national and international leadership and we will continue to do so.
Canadians have told us that they want change, and this government intends to deliver.
Again, I would like to thank my constituents for re-electing me.
