That is an excellent question.
Climate change is altering many of the risk factors for certain diseases.
Let me give you a very concrete example. Heat waves cause an increase in visits to emergency rooms and an increase in the pressure on the healthcare system. They are associated with hospitalization, heart disease, heart attacks, even strokes and blood clots in the brain. That results in costs for the healthcare system, because people spend weeks in the hospital and need complex care. Climate change causes heat waves, but also forest fires. We know that those phenomena will bring about an increase in consultations, both on the front lines and in secondary centres.
In addition, a number of good studies have been done showing that extreme meteorological events, like forest fires, can put the healthcare system itself at risk. When a hospital is located in an area that has to be evacuated, access to a healthcare network, essential though it is, becomes limited. During the Fort McMurray fires in 2016-2017, around 20 healthcare facilities and long-term residential care establishments had to be evacuated. When people are in residential care, they already present with a number of risk factors, and climate events cause additional stress that can have an impact on their health. We know that the healthcare system is not ready, because it is already at full capacity. Last year, we saw—