“I want the government to enforce the Canada Health Act and stop Alberta from letting people pay for private health care. Allowing people to pay for faster care breaks the law and hurts our public system.”

“Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to be here tonight. I would first like to begin by extending my congratulations to Louise Arbour on her appointment today to serve as Canada’s next governor general. She is a human rights champion, and she has had a remarkable career. She will, no doubt, continue to serve our country well in this new role. With that, I would like to turn the topic of debate this evening to Alberta’s Bill 11 and the Canada Health Act. In the last election, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that a Liberal government would protect our values and way of life. The Liberal platform highlighted our public health care system as an example of Canadians’ belief in the common good and a key difference between Canada and the U.S. The Liberal platform pledged to defend the Canada Health Act and told Canadians, “It’s time to return to the foundational values upon which our national health care was developed: free of charge, fair, universal, and accessible.” Today, those values are under threat, but instead of fighting for what matters to Canadians, the federal government is looking the other way. This morning, an independent legal opinion was published that confirmed what many have been saying for months. Alberta’s Bill 11 violates both the letter and the spirit of the Canada Health Act. The legal opinion, commissioned by the Canadian Health Coalition, explains that allowing people to pay privately for faster access to medically necessary care creates unequal access based on one’s ability to pay. In plain terms, Bill 11 would create an American-style, two-tier health care system. It is time for the minister to make clear that the government will keep its promise to Canadians and defend the Canada Health Act. The minister has called herself “the guardian of the Canada Health Act”, but since December, she has failed to act on this threat to our public health care system. Today, the Canada Health Coalition held a press conference with health and legal experts, calling for the minister to act, to take a clear position against Bill 11 and to speak about the threats the bill poses for all Canadians. Jason MacLean, chair of the Canadian Health Coalition, spoke about how the crisis in our health care system, fuelled by Conservative premiers, is seen as a business opportunity by major insurance companies. That should concern every Canadian who believes that health care is a right. Dr. Melanie Bechard, the chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare and a pediatric emergency physician at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, also spoke today in Ottawa. She spoke about how allowing dual practice will impact wait times, stating, “If we are...prioritizing...patients who can pay privately, that means that the majority of patients who rely on the public system will have to wait longer.” Let us be clear. Canadians deserve quicker access to the health care they need, but a two-tier health care system is not a solution to long wait times. Chris Gallaway, the executive director of Friends of Medicare in Alberta, also spoke in Ottawa today and called on the minister to take action to stop Bill 11. He said bluntly, “no more delays. No more stalling. No more talking about looking at regulations and implementation. We need you to do your job and show leadership”. If the federal government fails to enforce the Canada Health Act now, it sends a clear message far beyond Alberta. It tells provinces that the rules can be bent. It tells private interests that our public system is open for profits. Canadians did not build Medicare so that it could be quietly replaced with a system where wealth determines who gets treated first. If the federal government does not act now, it risks opening the door to further privatization across the country. I will ask this again: Will the minister stop stalling, enforce the Canada Health Act and stand up for a health care system that serves everyone equally?”

“The government has not kept its promises to protect and improve public health care. The health minister should have shown up tonight to answer for this.”

“Mr. Speaker, here we are. We are the last people here again. It has been four weeks in a row that I have dragged the government in here because it has not done its job to fulfill its promises when it comes to protecting our public health care system or to enhancing our system. In fact, it has failed to even protect it from the threats it is facing. This is no slight to the parliamentary secretary of industry, but it is shameful that the Minister of Health or her parliamentary secretary could not show up for this very important debate tonight. It is very disappointing.”

“The health minister says she protects the health care act, but she has not told Canadians her plan for it. I want her to share her plan and rules publicly.”

“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. Chris Gallaway was here today. He is from Friends of Medicare from Alberta. He highlighted that the minister, who has claimed over and over again in questions from me and from my colleague, the member for Edmonton Strathcona, that she is the guardian of the Health Care Act, has not told Canadians what she thinks about the act, what her plan is, and what regulations would suit her needs and what ones would not. She has not communicated publicly on this issue, which would really help us know what her thinking is, how we can move forward on regulations and what is happening. She has not shared that as our federal health minister.”