Thank you for the questions, Ms. Block.
First of all, for clarification, the $25 billion per annum is an estimate of the value of the unpaid labour provided by the 2.7 million caregivers across Canada. That number comes from a study done by, I believe, an academic, Mr. Hollander, but I could be corrected on the exact name. It was presented to the Special Senate Committee on Aging. It also reflects a larger study done in the United States where they estimated that same number to be in the neighbourhood of over $300 billion. If you use your usual one-tenth factor, that would be the value of the unpaid labour. When you compare the dollars you would have to spend to provide the financial support to the other strategies, you have to look at that cost-benefit.
In addition to that, and it has not been costed, although there have been smaller experiments done on how much money you would save the public health care system if you continued to roll this out, they've estimated the daily cost of care for someone in a long-term care facility, which is the alternative if you don't do this at home. They have found that you save, on the dollars you give to the caregivers, from six times the amount. The dollars vary, but it represents a massive opportunity to divert demand from the public health care system.
Earlier there was a question about who has responsibility for this. The health care accords are coming up for renewal. Some $70 billion of federal dollars were flowing, and if you do that again, you certainly want some conditions, including general standards across the country, to make sure that you prioritize home care as the next essential service. It is true that when we look at that whole issue, it's going to touch everybody. I don't think there's a person in this room who's not touched by it.