Thank you very much, Chairperson.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here today, and to Dr. Lear for being here via video conference, far from home.
I must say that we're learning a tremendous amount about the new advances that are being made. I find it fascinating, but I also find that increasingly there's a sense of frustration. The stuff that we hear about is so incredible and, across the country, various projects, initiatives, or innovations are under way. What I'm beginning to wonder more and more is, is there a sense of national purpose about what we're doing? We have the Canada Health Act, which lays out the five principles of medicare, including universality. I hope it will be one element that we bring to this study. How do we take what you are doing, which appears to be working very well on the ground, and scale it up to a national level? I think it's a sort of frustration. It's a challenge.
On a personal note, I had an experience here in Ottawa. It was something very simple. I had to go to the ER, the one on Carling Avenue, and the ER doctor said, “Here's my e-mail. If you've got any questions, e-mail me”. I was just blown away. It was the first time I'd ever had a health care provider say, “Here's my e-mail, and if you have any questions when you go home e-mail me”. And I did. I wrote to the doctor and he replied within 20 minutes, instead of my having to go back. It was so simple. I mean, e-mail; what's e-mail? We all use e-mail, but even within the care system I had never had that happen, and it really blew me away.
In hearing about what's happening in B.C., Dr. Lear, with the B.C. alliance, I guess the question I have for you and I think it's also for Dr. Price, is, how can we respond to this in a more institutional way? How can we take what you are doing, find a way to scale it up, and replicate it? It's not necessarily one-size-fits-all. We want local innovation, as that's where the creativity is. How can we make sure that all of this stuff is accessible across the country?
For example, in B.C., I'm curious to know if you did it through the Ministry of Health, or did you have to go to each health authority and convince them to get on board with this or the various projects you've described? To me, that's where the challenge is. How do we put this into practice in a much bigger way so that we all get the benefits?
I know that's a big question. Whether it's the private sector.... I'm primarily interested in the public sector, but if you would care to answer that, I'd be very interested.