Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Something that we keep missing here is that this is a provincial responsibility. The province has ultimate control of the administration of health care. What we've heard today is clear evidence that the provinces, on average, are increasing their health care expenditures by somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3.6% to 3.8%, and the federal government, as a funding partner only, is coming forward and saying, here are 6% increases. And we're complaining about it. Well, we're not, but clearly somebody is complaining about it, and we're simply a funding partner. I think what needs to be clear is that it's not a federal responsibility. That is what I would like to say.
I would also like to respond to Mr. Brison's comments in relation to Alberta. It might have something to do with the extreme growth that we've had over the last eight years. I would indicate to him that in my constituency of Fort McMurray, we have the lowest doctor-patient ratio in the country. In fact, I think we're the lowest in the OECD as far as the doctor-patient ratio is concerned. So as far as the delivery of health care services goes, Albertans need the increase, because, frankly, we've had such tremendous growth from your constituency and many other constituencies around the country where people want to get a job and have a great career and live in a great place.