Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today is around the co-payment for medical payment. The co-payment is a $250 charge that patients now have to pay for each direction of travel when they have to travel for medical reasons. Mr. Speaker, this payment was instituted by the last government because of the cash position we were facing; the large deficit. Since that time, this government has found money to put back into education and health. So we have restored much of what we cut in the 1990s when it came to health and education, but the co-payment lives on.

Mr. Speaker, the impact is mostly on poor, sick people. Maybe not really poor people, but low income people. It's not fair. The requirement for a patient to pay part of their travel does not reflect on their ability to pay. Yesterday, the Minister said we could not deal with issues like the co-payment in isolation of the whole basket of extended health benefit services. Yet, when it was pointed out that he was dealing with the issue of Metis co-payments for extended health benefits outside the whole basket, he said he saw that as a separate issue. Mr. Speaker, is this really a separate issue? This government is increasing Metis coverage to 100 percent for extended health benefits because it is the right thing to do, not because of any constitutional requirement to do it, although the Minister implied there was a constitutional connection in his reply to Mr. Bell yesterday. Mr. Speaker, I think Members on this side of the House agree it's the right thing to do for Metis people and it's the right thing to do for all of our residents. This government should end the policy requiring people to make co-payments for medical travel immediately. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause