Thank you.
You are completely right in saying that the federal government failed in its responsibilities, so to speak, in the 1980s. It did indeed try to reduce its budget deficit on the backs of Canadians, which was obviously a very bad thing. We were completely opposed to that.
Austerity was a pretext. The government said it had to balance the federal budget, which is by no means necessary. As we have seen recently, the issue is not accounting. The federal government is responsible for balancing the Canadian economy, not on the basis of some financial figures, but rather in accordance with the needs of all Canadians and Quebeckers, and it failed to do so. You are completely right.
Our organization, the Canadian Health Coalition, does in fact push the government to fund national programs across the nation, including insurance for prescriptions and dental care, and so forth. As an economist, I would say that these programs are much more effective when they are centrally administrated and funded, by the federal government, and when they are not for profit, a point I wish to emphasize.
We are not necessarily opposed to the private sector, but we are opposed to making profits on the backs of the sick. In this regard, we would like the federal government to set rules for...