Tony Clement

[Aboriginal Affairs, June 14th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, nothing in fact could be further from the truth. Just last Friday I signed a historic agreement with British Columbia first nations leaders which is going to transform and revolutionize first nations health in that part of the country and hopefully for the rest of the country

We are putting our money where our mouth is. We are adding more resources for first nations health. We are in fact transforming the system so that it actually delivers better health care. After 13 years of Liberal indifference, that is an improvement.

[Quarantine Act, June 14th, 2007]

moved that the bill be read the third time and passed.

[Quarantine Act, June 14th, 2007]

moved that the bill be concurred in.

(Motion agreed to)

[Health, May 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the government believes in the right to health care. It believes it should be properly funded.

After 13 years of Liberal rule where wait times doubled, we are actually reducing wait times, with the cooperation of the provinces and territories.

Those are the facts on the floor. We are for hard-working Canadian families and we are ensuring we put health care first.

[Health, May 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, the government is moving forward with our dialogue with provinces and territories. When it comes to the national pharmaceutical strategy, we have made great gains in terms of researching this issue and finding areas of possible agreement.

Through increases to transfers to provinces this year alone of $1.2 billion in program transfers just to health care, plus an extra $1 billion on top of that for patient wait times guarantees and through Canada Health Infoway, the government is getting the job done.

[Health, May 28th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, last November the Prime Minister and I announced the creation of the new Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, which is an agency designed to work on surveillance, on research and on the prevention and treatment of cancer across the whole country.

This morning I met with the board of directors of this new agency, including Mr. Lozen, who is the chair of this agency. I am pleased to announce that this new agency is up and running. I am certainly looking forward to its pan-Canadian efforts to lead the fight against cancer, something this government has stood for and in fact acted on. We are very proud that we did.

[Pesticide Management, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, there is no agreement, no changes, nor any such discussion within our government. Our government will protect Canadians and the situation in our country. If there is an agreement with the Americans or anyone else, the agreement will protect the health of Canadians.

[Pesticide Management, May 9th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, this is not the case at all. This government will protect the health of all Canadians. On the contrary, our decisions are based on science, on scientific, not political, data. We will not lower the level of safety of Canadians if discussions lead to an agreement. I give the House my word.

[Pesticide Management, May 8th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member and this House that the hon. member is quite mistaken. This government takes its responsibilities to protect the health and safety of Canadians very seriously. Indeed if there is any harmonization, it will be to the highest standards as we protect Canadians on their health and safety when it comes to pesticide management.

[Health, May 1st, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, health research is absolutely fundamental to this country.

The following are some examples of additional funding in the budget: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research received an extra $37 million; Genome Canada received an extra $100 million; and the Canadian Institute for Health Information received an extra $22 million.

Heather Munroe-Blum, a very esteemed researcher, principal and vice-chancellor at McGill University, said, “Your government has consistently expressed its conviction that Canada's future health and prosperity will require significant and sustained investment. You have acted on that conviction”.

She said that the government was getting it done for Canadians.