The idea that we would have a balkanized system with every province running about doing its own thing, I obviously don't agree with. There are things that have to be coordinated nationally. For example, my colleague mentioned pharmacare. Well, with a universal public pharmacare plan, we could, as a country, negotiate our prices. Now, we have 110,000 plans. We'd be much better off having one plan that we can bargain with for the drugs, for prices and for access and all these kinds of things. It makes no sense to have a super balkanized system. Frankly, I'm confused about that.
Second, this whole pharmacare thing, because it would be a national plan with all these various benefits, would save massive amounts of money: according to the Hoskins report, $16 billion a year just for employers. I mean, yay, employers will save $16 billion a year. Individuals will save $6 billion or $7 billion a year. Now, it's true that the federal government will pick up some of that money, but it will be able to save all of us a lot of money: at least $5 billion a year, probably more. That's a great thing. That would be a federal government program, and there is no alternative to that.