Tony Clement

[Aboriginal Affairs, February 7th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. members knows, this is an incredibly serious issue and a dire situation. I can assure this House that Health Canada is on the scene with medical professionals. Indeed, we have additional funds this year alone to, unfortunately, deal with suicide crisis intervention services.

Of course, the previous Liberal government's record in terms of the treatment of first nations was appalling. We are attempting with alacrity to clean up that mess. However, in the meantime, we are going to be there for the citizens of Canada on that particular reserve, as indeed for all reserves.

[Health, February 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to put into the record, yet again, CIHI's most recent information on the studied year, which indicates there are 42,000 more surgeries in five key surgery areas. That is an increase in accessibility of 7%. It also indicates an increase of over 2% in surgeries performed outside these five key areas.

These are the facts. We are meeting our wait times targets. We are acting with leadership on behalf of all Canadians. That is the record of this government and we are darn proud of it.

[Health, February 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, let me correct the record for the hon. member.

In fact, 85% of the Canadian population has wait time targets that were not in place under his government. We are working on the other 15%. When it came to priorities, the leader of the official opposition, in his maiden speech to the Toronto Board of Trade, mentioned a whole host of priorities. Where did health care stand? It stood nowhere. He did not mention health care once.

The Liberals are not getting it done. They did not get it done in the past. They will not get it done in the future either.

[Health, February 5th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, it is quite the opposite. According to the latest report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the most recent data indicated that 42,000 more surgeries were performed than in the previous year in five key surgery areas. In fact, more surgeries were performed overall.

This shows real improvement. It shows that the leadership this government is showing in terms of patient wait time guarantees, both on reserve and for child surgeries, is making a difference for the future as well. In contrast, the Liberal record was to talk a lot, do nothing and get nothing done for Canadians.

[Health, January 30th, 2007]

No, Mr. Speaker. In fact, we are investing in the public health care system on behalf of the people of Canada to fix the mess that was there because of the Liberal government for the past 13 years.

That is what we are doing on this side of the House. We support the Canada Health Act. We support working with our counterparts including the Government of Quebec which is taking its responsibility seriously, which is more than I can say for the third party.

[Health, January 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, as the Prime Minister indicated during the election campaign and as we have indicated as a government, we support the Canada Health Act and the principles of the Canada Health Act which include universal accessibility and universal coverage.

I had a conversation with my Quebec counterpart this morning. He is investigating the situation involving a Montreal clinic. I have every confidence that the Government of Quebec will support the Canada Health Act and universal accessibility.

[Health, January 30th, 2007]

Mr. Speaker, indeed the Prime Minister made the announcement indicating that 17 pediatric hospitals across the country from Halifax to Vancouver are part of this important initiative to reduce wait times for Canadian kids requiring medical care.

We are investing taxpayers' money, $2.6 million, in a 15 month pilot project, the first pan-Canadian wait times information system to help kids who need surgery. We are acting. We are showing leadership. When the Liberals ran the government, they cut health care.

[Health, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is incorrect. In fact, we are fully funding Canada Health Infoway. We consider it a key component of the government's agenda for electronic health records. I encourage the hon. member to check her facts. We are delivering on our health care promises. After 13 years in power, the former government, the Liberal Party, made a whole lot of promises on health care and wait times were doubled.

[Health, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the targets are on target. Indeed, the government showed leadership for this country by establishing the two first wait time guarantees in the history of this country, both on reserve, both targeting people at risk, whether it be prenatal care or diabetes care. We are leading by example.

If the hon. member cares so much about it, she should resign her seat, run for the provincial legislature, and get elected in the Government of British Columbia and establish the targets with the Government of Canada.

[Health, December 13th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the hon. member that this is about wait time targets. Indeed, all 10 provinces are already either meeting the accelerated deadline or are well on their way to doing so. Three have already announced the target that she is referring to. Three have indicated they will do so very soon. Two are working on targets they already established in 2004 and two have indicated that they are using common benchmarks. This is another promise made, another promise kept.