I want to thank all the witnesses for being here.
We are talking about tourism, and I fully agree that this activity has amazing effects on the economy. That's very important. The government recognizes that, and Minister Bernier is working on it.
My question is for Dr. Tétreault, from St. Boniface Hospital.
Your submission was absolutely incredible, Dr. Tétreault. You have addressed a number of things that we have been repeating over and over again, things like demographics. In the words of your submission, there's a remarkable increase in life expectancy for those over 65 and particularly for those over 85, and fostering a research environment at what you are calling a centre for health care innovation in Canada to assist an elderly population to remain healthy and active in the workplace is of great interest to me and to Canada.
I find it very interesting that your submission focuses on what we've been saying, which is to create some jobs to take care of those vulnerable people in our society and to make sure that we use every dollar efficiently. The 70% of the time that is unfortunately wasted by our nurses, as indicated in your proposal, searching for tools or implements or equipment that they need restricts them from patient care.
I encourage everyone to read the deck that you provided.
The job creation elements in your proposal are fantastic. By partnering business in innovation and in commercialization with the health care industry, there is money to be made and there are jobs to be created, so I appreciate everything you've put forward in your submission.
I want to give you an opportunity to address the letters of support that you distributed. I want to thank you for that.
As an MP in your riding, I get calls about the things you've been doing to educate other hospitals and other industries. I get calls about what you've been doing. You've been asked across the country and in other parts of the world to come and teach this lean program that you are advocating to reduce inefficiencies, etc. You've been approached by people who are interested in this idea of a centre for excellence. You've submitted a couple of letters of support.
I want you to tell us what these are. Give us a snapshot of what you've done for these two agencies that leads us to believe that what you're saying is going to help our economy and our health care industry to progress.