44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 14, 2022 11:00AM
Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to wish a happy St. Valentine's day to my partner, who is lovingly supportive of my involvement in politics, as well as to my colleagues of all stripes in the House, and to all the people of Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d'Orléans—Charlevoix, especially.
We urgently need the federal government to commit to increasing health care funding for Quebec and the provinces from 22% to 35%. That would make everyone, especially seniors, very happy. That should not come as news to anyone.
There is nothing wrong with spending an additional $2.5 billion on rapid tests, but this is exactly the kind of enticement we are all too familiar with. The government often uses such thinly veiled tactics to win people over. What people really want, however, is federal health transfers that are adequate, adapted, indexed and planned for the long term.
What has happened in recent years has been a nightmare, and the nightmare only became worse with the pandemic. I keep telling myself that we are going to wake up from this bad dream. As the saying goes, everything is connected to everything else. Today we are witnessing the frustrations of a certain segment of the population here on Parliament Hill and across the country, and while we have been hit hard by the pandemic's toughest waves, it is not because Quebec and the provinces lack the leadership or the skills to maintain an effective and functional health care system. Our expertise is more than sufficient.
We are lacking the resources to get through this. What is lacking is adequate federal funding. Imagine how different things would be if successive federal governments since 1958 had lived up to their responsibilities in health care. Imagine managing health care without constant cuts, suffocating reforms and restrictive measures, which in the long run cause people to steer clear of nursing programs. Imagine that there is no shortage of home care services, no triaging in hospitals, no psychiatric departments being closed, no striking workers and no pressure tactics motivated by inadequate wages and unsustainable conditions.
It is reasonable to conclude that had past federal funding been adequate, Quebec and the provinces would have had enough money to properly maintain their health care services, implement technological development tools and use forecasting tools for recruitment, training, hospital and paramedic services, and home care for an aging population, and better prepare for a potential health crisis.
There is also a wide range of community services and supports for caregivers, the homeless, psychological support and suicide prevention that would have benefited. In short, if there is one thing that we absolutely must take away from this pandemic, it is that health is the number one priority for the public as a whole and that the government has a duty to act on the public's priorities.
Unfortunately, since 1958, all the wonderful people in health care have had to keep coming up with ways to make up for the lack of federal funding, with the help of countless volunteers who I wish to sincerely thank. These volunteers go all out to help foundations, produce telethons and organize fundraisers with spokespeople who are usually from the arts sector and are always generous. The public has also rallied to compensate for the many shortfalls that have multiplied all these years. This has all served as a stopgap to counter the inertia, denial and indifference shown by the federal government since 1958, no matter which party has been in power, I would add.
The Bloc Québécois represents Quebec's social democracy, offering hope for an education system and universal public health system that are worthy of a G7 country.
Quebec and Canadian taxpayers get up in the morning and go to work wanting to participate in society because they believe in it. They believe that it is the right thing to do. If we make them feel like their efforts are worthless, that their taxes and money are not worth anything; if, the more they are taxed and after years of taking their lumps and staying the course, they see that their efforts are in vain because they met their obligations, but the government did not do the same, then we end up in the situation we are in now: an impasse.
Not everyone is out in the streets. Not everyone sees themselves in this muddled mood with mixed messages and demands, but many are at home deeply disappointed about the current situation and the federal government's crisis management, simply because federal money is not getting to the right place in the right way. They are losing confidence, quietly disengaging and becoming cynical. Is that a shame? Yes. Is it surprising? I hope not.
Of course not everything is black or white, but there is no denying that the impoverishment, the fragility, of our health care system is directly linked to the fact that the federal government is not paying its fair share to Quebec and the provinces. There is very clear evidence of cause and effect.
I would add that the reason we have to keep maintaining, then easing, and then reimposing health restrictions is not just because a handful of individuals refuse to get vaccinated, despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits of vaccines. It is also because our health care systems are unable to absorb the unexpected number of patients created by the pandemic.
With vaccination rates close to 90%, we might have expected to be getting out of the pandemic or at least have the end in sight. However, we are missing two essential, critical ingredients: a government willing to participate actively and fairly in the global vaccination effort, and robust and well-funded provincial and Quebec health care systems. Right now, we have a health care system that is broken.
Even though the vast majority of people are not out in the streets protesting right now, it does not mean that they are satisfied. People are fed up, but they still hold out hope for something better.
To those who are disillusioned and worried, to neglected and injured seniors, I say this: As long as I am standing here in the House, I will never stop defending the French language, their values, and their interests, and supporting their plans and their brilliant ideas.
My father used to say that there is nothing harder than to wake up someone who is not sleeping. If the federal government wants to spend $2.5 billion to provide rapid tests to Quebec and the provinces, fine. However, if it is still using this fragmented and unsustainable support to justify refusing to increase health transfers to 35%, I would say that it has totally forgotten the whole point of politics, which is to serve.
I would add that the best Valentine's Day gift we could give the public right now would be to agree to have the government commit to paying Quebec and the provinces their fair share of health care funding. If the government ends up refusing to meet its obligations, I would say that there is nothing harder than to wake up someone who is not sleeping.
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Actually, I think the parliamentary secretary and I do not have the same concept of what urgent means.
It is not urgent to fund rapid tests. What is really urgent is—
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Madam Speaker, I would like to say again to my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, that we do not have the same concept of what urgent means. Of course it is urgent to support the purchase of rapid tests, since public health authorities have assured us that they are necessary and effective and that we must use them.
However, what is urgent for us in the Bloc Québécois are health transfers and the need for a robust health care system. It is urgent because our health care system is broken. We cannot wait any longer. This is even more urgent than funding the purchase of rapid tests to buy time, which is what the government is doing on a regular basis these days.
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Madam Speaker, I did not understand if there was a question, but I can add to my colleague's comments by saying that there is no rush for rapid tests. It is not a matter of minutes or days.
A visit to hospitals throughout Quebec and the provinces will show that there are emergencies. They are caused by a shortage of staff, money and available beds. Solving this problem is very urgent, because patients are waiting right now in hospital hallways.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her constructive question.
This is about democracy. We need to take the time it takes. We cannot shut down debate on a whim. We in the Bloc Québécois are in favour of debate.
We are in favour of these tests, but it is important to go through the parliamentary process.
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