Thank you very much.
I'd like to focus a bit on costs and how much a switch to a single-payer system would cost. I'm concerned, because even as this study goes on, it seems that our data is insufficient. It's older data, and from a practical standpoint, we also have the complexity of federal coverage, provincial coverage, and private coverage.
Apparently, there are 24 million Canadians who have private coverage through work. If the government makes a decision that's going to force 24 million Canadians to take government coverage— and in some cases, we've heard it can be inferior coverage and won't cover the drugs a private plan would cover—then what kind of effect are we going to have on our population from an outcome basis, with the whole kit and caboodle?
I don't have a lot of time, but what I would like to ask the Auditor General, Mr. Ferguson.... Health care delivery is pretty much a provincial and territorial jurisdiction. As a conservative cost, the program would be about $35 billion. Do you have the jurisdiction to audit a provincial and territorial program, and what do you think the costs would be just for your department to audit something of that size from a process standpoint?