Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
And thanks to all of you.
You should know that this is the last chance we get to hear from the public about the 10-year accord. Time is limited.
Mike, you made a good point. It has not necessarily been by the wishes of the committee, but I think, really, by design of the government, because we got a letter right from the very start from the Minister of Health suggesting that a focused, time-limited review by the committee would be in order. The suggestion was that very little progress has been made; therefore, there wouldn't be much point, even though we're almost halfway through the 10-year period.
I simply need to know from all of you—and I'll ask this in three different areas—what recommendations you would have for us as we prepare our report. It is a critical juncture. We're talking about the overall state of our health care system. I want to break it into three areas.
One, with respect, Mike, to the Canada Health Act, you were the only one who mentioned the lack of accountability and the failure of this government to live up to the standards in the Canada Health Act, which is part of the accord. People seem to forget. Written right in the accord is an agreement on the part of all governments to the existing system, and they pledge to renew the system, not dismantle the system.
We couldn't get the minister for this committee to deal with the CHA, we couldn't get the motion passed here at committee, so what do we do now to get some accountability from this government with respect to the Canada Health Act?
That's the first question. Then I want to go on to health human resources and then aboriginal health.