Mr. Speaker, I am happy to speak in the House today on health care because it is an issue that is important to so many Canadians.
I have a great respect for our health care system and I am amazed at the commitment that our health care providers have shown, especially during such events as the SARS outbreak that affected our country, particularly the riding of Scarborough—Agincourt which was the epicentre.
Health care is the number one priority of the government, as it is for Canadians at large. We welcome any constructive debate on this issue. While I am glad that the NDP has given the House the opportunity to debate health care, I am disappointed to see that the NDP has once again resorted to scare tactics. This week that party's theory will have health care becoming privatized. With our government in charge, nothing could be farther from the truth.
The government is absolutely committed to public health care and intends to maintain the public health care system. We on this side of the House support the work of the Romanow commission and the recommendations of that report.
The Liberal government has committed new money to health care and the Prime Minister has made it perfectly clear that he intends to negotiate new agreements with the provinces in order to reform health care in Canada. We plan to move forward with the recommendations of the Romanow report to ensure a stable and viable health care system.
While I am more than happy to be given the opportunity to state our strong support for the public health care system, I really cannot help but wonder what the NDP has to complain about. Then again, the NDP has always been a tax and spend party, except that now, under Jack Layton, it is a spend and spend party.
The NDP, under Jack Layton, will never be happy with any amount of government funding announced in any policy area, let alone health care. That is one of the reasons why today former NDP members, such as Chris Axworthy from Saskatchewan and Ujjal Dosanjh from British Columbia who were in Ottawa today, have left the NDP and joined the ranks of the Liberal Party.
Spending on health care, like spending on other social programs, must be one of sustainable spending. Sustainability can only be assured through economic stability. Our government, for the past seven years, has put forward balanced budgets and tax cuts, which is giving us the ability to spend money on social programs.
However, we do not spend money we do not have. While I welcome the opportunity to debate the government's unwavering commitment to our public health care system, today's motion is nothing more than political grandstanding. It is not an honest reflection of the government's clear commitment to Canada's cherished public health care system.
The Conservative-Reform-Alliance Party across the way scares me when it talks about its vision for the future of health care in Canada. I truly believe the hon. Leader of the Opposition when he says that if the Conservatives were to take power, Canada would be a nation we would not even recognize. It would be a Canada where people would have to take their credit cards with them to see their doctors. The health care system under a Conservative-Reform-Alliance government would only widen the divide between the have and have nots.
Realizing how out of step it is with the Canadian people and health care, the Canadian Reform-Alliance-Conservative Party has begun spouting off about supporting public health care. Witness the Conservative-Alliance leader's speech yesterday in Toronto where he was showcasing his Mike Harris government retread candidates. He spoke about health care and tried to soften his party's approach. I do not blame him for wanting to try to change or at least hide the health care policy. Somehow I doubt his sincerity.
How can the Conservatives have campaigned for 10 years for two tier health care and user fees when they have talked about public health care for the last 10 days? How can they expect anyone to believe that they are now the defenders of the public health care system?
Members across the way would implement a system where in a matter of a year we would see the public health care system fall by the wayside. It would be a system where those who could afford to opt out would opt out. It would be a system where they would receive prompt and efficient service while the public health care system would deteriorate. It would be a system where those who opt out would demand that their tax dollars go toward something more relevant. Perhaps this is what the Conservative-reform-alliance party has in mind. It would be the only way the Conservatives could pay for tax cuts, which is clearly that party's top priority.
The real Conservative-reform-alliance health care policy was also very evident in the most recent leadership race where two tier Tony Clement said, “co-payments or user fees for non-emergency health care is the sort of thing that needs to be looked at if the health care system is going to match an increase in demand thanks to an aging population”. He was the minister of health under Michael Harris who devastated the Ontario health care system.
During the last election the then leader of the Alliance Party was quoted in the Red Deer Advocate as saying “An increasingly large percentage of the population are asking for some kind of health care user fee”.
What has changed? Absolutely nothing has changed.
The party across the way is so desperate to get some sort of electorate credibility that it is hiding its true intentions and trying to trick the electorate into voting for it. I do not believe the people of Canada are so naive that they will be fooled by those wolves in sheep's clothing.
The Liberal government has done everything possible to ensure that the current publicly administered health care system meets the standards of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. This includes the extra $2 billion in funding that the provinces recently received and the new Canadian public health agency that was announced in the budget of 2004. We are committed to doing even more.
The Conservatives, clearly, are trying to hide their true intentions for our health care system from Canadians, but it will not work. Canadians already know what the Conservatives stand for. They stand for a system where it is not one's medical needs that matter but how fast it will be approved on a credit card.
All members on this side of the House agree with me in stating that we will fight for the right of all Canadians to have the best public health care system possible. Liberals will defend against the ideals of the right and private health care; the ideals that would lead to not only two tiers for health care but as many as possible, if the Leader of the Opposition has his way.