Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for being here.
Clearly the 10-year plan is an interference in matters that are under the jurisdiction of the provinces and Quebec. That is why Quebec is not a party to the agreement, under the Quebec clause, which was added to the action plan.
However, it is still worthwhile to take another general look at two objectives that are central to that plan. First, there are wait times to see doctors. I read in La Presse in 2007 that Canada ranked last among the seven countries surveyed in terms of how much time people had to wait to get an appointment with a doctor.
Since that study was published, on November 1, 2007, have things improved? If not, can you comment on the results of that study?
Second, better access to health care was one of the objectives. In a newspaper article published on January 9, 2008, I read that according to the 2007 National Physician Survey, 5 million Canadians had no family doctor.
Is that figure large or small? Is it better or worse than before? Can you comment generally on those figures, which were also published in the media?