44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 16, 2023 10:00AM
- Feb/16/23 12:13:44 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I want to start with the fact that, yes, it is New Democrats' dream to one day see a universally administered, universally accessible health care system in this country. If that is our dream, we are the Bloc Québécois's nightmare because this piece of legislation, this work and the funding models that need to be put in place are the kinds of things Canadians expect from coast to coast to coast.
The reality is that we are living in a confederacy; our country was founded on the principle of confederacy, and that model came from indigenous nations. If the Bloc members would look at a history book, they would realize that those indigenous nations actually bound together in their confederacies to work with one another and to help one another, rather than block the health care that people in my province, people in Saskatchewan and the good people of Manitoba would otherwise benefit from.
I do appreciate this member's speech, but it does not go far enough to protect Canadians from coast to coast to coast. Can the member explain what his plan is to ensure that other Canadians have the opportunities that Quebec may have?
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- Feb/16/23 1:33:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I feel so sorry for my friend, who was trotted out like a slaughtered lamb for this speech. To give a speech about health care and being a New Democrat is ludicrous in my province.
New Democrats actually ushered in the two-tiered health care system under Roy Romanow when they closed 52 hospitals in my province, and every hospital they closed was in an opposition member's riding. They fired 1,000 nurses and 500 doctors in the 1990s. Therefore, when they talk about two-tiered health care in Canada, they are the ones who brought it in. People could never get the same service in rural and remote Saskatchewan as they could in urban Saskatchewan. They closed the Plains hospital, which was one of the first hospitals built in the province in 100 years. They did not like the people who were going to it because those people did not vote NDP.
The NDP has nothing to stand on when it comes to two-tiered health care in my province. They eviscerated Saskatchewan's health care system. That is why they will never be in government in Saskatchewan and why they will never be trusted to be the government of Canada.
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- Feb/16/23 1:34:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, one thing we know is that Conservatives certainly cannot be trusted to stand up against Doug Ford, Scott Moe and Danielle Smith. They want to destroy Canada's universal health care system, which by the way, was brought in by Tommy Douglas, who is from Saskatchewan.
It was the New Democrats that brought forward this motion today instead of a motion to remove the carbon tax for the seventh time. That is what Conservatives use their opposition days for as opposed to trying to protect health care for Canadians. They use their opposition days for motions that they could not enforce even if they were passed in this House. I am from British Columbia, which has a provincial carbon tax.
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- Feb/16/23 1:48:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I never got an answer to my last question from the member before this.
This member seems to have selective amnesia. I feel so bad for him. He talks about Tommy Douglas but not about Roy Romanow's revenge on rural Saskatchewan, where, in the 1990s, he closed 52 hospitals and 13 long-term care homes. They are the kings of two-tiered health care systems, with one service in rural Saskatchewan and one service in urban Saskatchewan.
I would love an answer, since they ushered in the actual two-tiered system, and they closed hospitals where people did not vote for them.
I wonder how they feel about that, because they will never be trusted to run health care in Saskatchewan. Canada should not trust these NDP members either, because they are members of the same party.
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- Feb/16/23 4:09:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I noticed there was a stark absence in the member's speech of a reference to the NDP record on health care in Saskatchewan. That record includes the closure of 52 hospitals in one year, and the closure of 13 long-term care centres in one year, which also meant that probably around 1,000 health care workers were put out of a job.
Could the member comment on the record the NDP has, which has contributed to people not trusting the NDP in Saskatchewan? They will not for a long time because of the record the NDP had of abandoning rural Canada.
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- Feb/16/23 4:38:42 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will be so happy to intone the name of the father of medicare and the system, Tommy Douglas. I just want to remind the member that it was passed by the Liberal government because that human being was sitting in this House and had demonstrated what it meant in Saskatchewan, and that is the only reason that we have this amazing system in this country today.
I appreciate the member's hurt feelings. I understand these are sensitive issues that make us all concerned, but right now we are seeing privatization creep into this system. We have shown that in private systems, often the cost to the patient is double what it would be in our medicare system. When we start down that path, what it means is that more and more people who have resources would be going to the private system, and all the staff would be following that. People in Canada, who have relied on it and who voted in this country that Tommy Douglas was the greatest Canadian ever for the system, will see it deplete.
The NDP is standing in this House today saying there should be a line. We are crossing that line, and we had better stop it. When will the Liberals take responsibility for that creep?
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