Mr. Speaker, today's NDP motion on the private for-profit delivery of health care services the government has encouraged since 1993, leads us to reflect on the reasons the private sector has grown so much in the provincial health care field. I have decided to speak today because of the many hospitals in my riding. There are many seniors in my riding, as well as a very high percentage of people living just around the poverty line. There is heavy demand for health care and home care.
This afternoon, I have heard some strange remarks from the member for Vancouver Centre in connection with the government's wish list. She seems not to realize what her government has done since 1993. I have noted some of the objectives she has mentioned: disease prevention, environmental improvement, ensuring that no one is denied the health services he or she requires. What I see is that, since 1993, the government's objectives for health have been quite different.
Who was finance minister after the 1993 election? Who could decide what funds to allocate to health? None other than our Prime Minister, who is about to embark on an election campaign.
I watched her list all of the government's good intentions, to be achieved by trampling on provincial jurisdictions. Just on the eve of an election, it smells like electioneering.
In this afternoon's debate on health care, I would like to split my time with the hon. member for Matapédia—Matane, who will speak in the second 10 minutes.
What the federal government wants, of course, is to deny that it has been withdrawing since 1990. The process has accelerated since 1993 with respect to health. The numbers speak for themselves. At present, the government members appear to be satisfied with the sum of $2 billion. They will not stop pointing it out to us, reminding us of it, oral question period after oral question period, whenever a question is raised by a member of the opposition, including the Bloc Quebecois. I would like to remind the House that this $2 billion is the same amount promised in 2003-04 in a budget under the former Prime Minister, Mr. Jean Chrétien. This is an old story, and an old hobby horse. It is like highway 175 in the Saguenay. They announced once again that they would be providing some money and giving the go-ahead to the highway 175 project. We have heard it all before.
One could say that, this afternoon, the health care system is not a goal of the federal Liberal government, and that will continue. For example, it would be a good idea to tell us when we are going to receive much more money. At the moment, the percentage has been raised but it is below the expectations of the provincial premiers. The Romanow report said that the investment should be 25%. And what percentage have we reached? We are barely at 15.3%. We have been below 11%. Thus, we have only corrected the federal withdrawal that has been occurring year after year since 1993.
They are telling us that in 15 years we will get to only 17% as the federal contribution to health care. Thus, we are very far from the needs and expectations of the provinces. If there had been a wish to satisfy the provinces, the opposite would have been done. A realistic plan would have been drawn up to meet the provinces' expectations. The debate on for-profit private health services would perhaps be different from today's debate in this House.
The federal government's withdrawal from health care funding has had a huge impact. There is uncertainty in the provinces with respect to a real health strategy to respond to the needs of the public. We know that these needs are growing. The population is aging. I think that my riding of Québec is the one with the largest concentration of seniors in Canada.
it is urgent to give this some thought. With an election drawing near, we have this new Prime Minister who, when he was finance minister, completely abandoned his responsibility to fund the provinces through the CHST, by putting in place programs that invade jurisdictions. I will tell hon. members later how the federal government has been invading provincial jurisdictions since 1990, and even 1919.
This is a huge challenge. There are new technologies that we are unable to address. The population is aging. The demand on available resources is increasing.
With its $2 billion, the federal government is doing poorly in terms of expenditures. Between 2019 and 2020, these will be approximately $170 million, as compared to $72.5 billion in 2002-03. As we can see, there is a huge difference. When we say that expenditures have increased and all we get is $2 billion, it does not go a long way.
In 2004-05, the governments will invest 38% of their total budgets in health care. At present, the provinces are allocating 38% of their budgets not to responding to the various needs, but just to keeping their heads above water.
Furthermore, the Conference Board of Canada told us in February 2004 that the era of federal government surpluses was not over. This proves that there is a problem, or a fiscal imbalance. The federal surpluses are not about to end; they are predicted to reach some $10 billion in 2004-05 and even higher in 2020 when they will be somewhere around $80 billion.
Instead of apologizing and admitting that there is fiscal imbalance, the provincial governments should be able to squeeze out more taxes, money that should be transferred to them so that they can at least pay for services. Health is a provincial responsibility, not a federal responsibility. Since 1919, year after year they have been trying to undermine it. Let me explain how. The most blatant encroachment is done through the Canada Health Act, which imposes conditions and criteria on health services.
First they implemented a National Health Council, the creation of which did not receive unanimous support. Alberta refused to participate. Quebec followed suit, not only because it already has its own monitoring agency, but because this council is an obvious intrusion in Quebec jurisdiction. Quebec indicated that it would cooperate with the federal agency but in the meantime, this agency will cost money.
Another example of encroachment in provincial jurisdiction is the Canadian public health agency. Again, even though he has not committed any increase in health spending, Paul Martin continues to impose his priorities, namely by creating this new agency—