Mr. Speaker, it is refreshing to hear from the NDP members. I need to remind them that their leader lived in co-op housing for a number of years.
If they want me to keep going, let me just tell the House what the Leader of the Opposition said on health care. He said:
What we clearly need is experimentation--with market reforms and private delivery options within the public system. And it is only logical, in a federal state where the provinces operate the public health care systems and regulate private services, that experimentation should occur at the provincial level.
He made that speech in Charlottetown June 27, 2001.
Later, he continued:
Monopolies in the public sector are just as objectionable as monopolies in the private sector. It should not matter who delivers health care, whether it is private, for profit, not for profit or public institutions, as long as Canadians have access to it regardless of their financial means.
That was in the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, October 1, 2002. I can give the members more. The Leader of the Opposition also believes that:
--our health care will continue to deteriorate unless Ottawa overhauls the Canada Health Act to allow the provinces to experiment with market reforms and provide health care delivery options. He is prepared to take tough positions including experimenting with private delivery in the public system.
These statements can be found at www.harperforleader.com, from February 2002.