I appreciate that you attended that meeting. I know it was well attended. I also do know that there were quite a few people there who do support the changes.
It is a difficult environment, I think, to try to bring some of those perspectives forward. I'll just say that, clearly, the sentiment there was against the changes, and I fully recognize that. As we've said in the letter, and I've tried to speak to, there are definitely concerns that physicians have about the system, and it's feeling as if tax policy is not the best way to address those concerns. That's kind of the main reason.
I feel as if coming from Cape Breton influences me even more, knowing the kinds of incomes that my patients have, knowing that I can have a pretty decent income. I work not too many extra hours. I work decent hours. I am on call and I do things that physicians do, but I earn much more than they do. I also recognize that, as physicians, when we're working in a low-income area, we need to look at that aspect also.
I will also say that, given that the medical associations came out so strongly against the changes, and I know because members asked them to, there hasn't been a space to put out surveys that ask if we support the changes. That was never a question on that survey. That's one thing: I think there hasn't been a space to bring that voice forward.
Last, I'd just say there have been many times throughout history when physicians have said that patient care will be harmed, and they'll leave the country or leave the province. There are already challenges to recruiting to small places, to rural places, to places where the pay might be lower than other provinces, and there hasn't been the evidence to show that the tax policy changes will exacerbate that. We've actually seen physicians coming from the U.S. to Canada in recent years, much less than physicians leaving Canada. That's not to say there won't be impacts, but I think it actually harms us when we are trying to negotiate for specific things in our provincial negotiations to make these kinds of threats now that may or may not come to be, because the tax changes likely will come to be, and when we want to try to negotiate for something else later, it gives us a weaker position.