Government leader, a new FOI-based report from SecondStreet.org has revealed a national tragedy: 23,746 Canadians died last year while waiting for surgeries or diagnostic procedures. Since 2018, more than 100,000 people have died not because they received bad care but because they never received care at all.

For years, the opposition warned that this government’s choices — its spending, its priorities and particularly its failure to manage immigration and population growth — were pushing houses, health care and services to a breaking point. So tell us, government leader, how can this government possibly defend its record when tens of thousands of Canadians are literally dying in line, and won’t the government finally admit that its own mismanagement and lack of fiscal anchor have driven our health care system into a crisis?

The Government of Canada is willing to work with provinces on helping with the health care system. The government will invest massively and collaborate with provinces to ensure that health care everywhere in Canada can improve.

I told you before, but the way you are describing things — your argument is that I look at things with rose-coloured glasses. Your description of Canada does not match the Canada that I see. It’s not the Canada that Canadians witness, and it certainly does not reflect the will that Canadians expressed in the last election. This government is bringing hope to Canadians and is committed to continue working to do that by investing in the Canadian economy, creating jobs and helping Canadians.

I see Canada as the greatest country in the world, but the greatest country in the world speaks for the 100,000 Canadians who have lost their lives waiting for health care, something that we Canadians think is unacceptable. It’s not enough to say, “Well, we won the last election,” because those voices couldn’t be heard in the last election because they didn’t receive sufficient care to be able to vote. These are the people I’m fighting for. These are the voices I’m standing for. When will the government understand that we’re not here to represent only the well-to-do, but those who are suffering as well?

I answered your question earlier today, Senator Housakos. The government is investing to help Canadians everywhere — housing, for instance, homelessness, people who are in danger of being homeless. The government is investing billions of dollars in that.

Don’t tell Canadians that the government doesn’t care about how Canadians are living. By investing in Canada, the Prime Minister has proven that he really cares for Canadians.

Government leader, at yesterday’s meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, my colleague MP Dan Mazier highlighted that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has been promoting Canada’s supposedly free health care system as part of its communications strategy to attract newcomers. Yet, as Senator Housakos just noted, more than 23,000 Canadians died last year while waiting for surgeries or diagnostic procedures. Additionally, over 6.5 million Canadians are still without a family doctor.

Shame.

Leader, Canadians are facing unprecedented strain and deteriorating access to care. Isn’t it deeply insulting for your government to market a health care system abroad that is clearly failing to deliver adequately for Canadians at home?

When we are talking of improving access to family doctors and transforming Canada’s health care system, it means all levels of government and health partners working together to do what is needed so Canadians can get the health care they deserve. It’s not only a federal jurisdiction; it’s every government’s jurisdiction.

Health care workers need support through getting additional health workers into the system faster. The government is stepping up with close to $200 billion in direct health care funding to transform the health care system together with provinces and territories. This is more than words: It’s money. It’s $200 billion.

The deal with provinces and territories targets what matters most to Canadians: more doctors and nurses, shorter wait times and better health care. The government is committed to that.