That's great. Thank you.
I also would like to bring up the issue of a private member's bill that is coming up this week in Parliament and is calling for an organ donor registry. You may be aware that this issue is very important to me, to many people here in this room, and to many people in my Conservative caucus as well.
Of course, I'm sure that organ donation is widely supported by all of us, but sadly, when it comes to improving organ donation systems in Canada, there is often a lot of talk and little action. Insofar as national organ donor registries go, we lag behind all other developed nations and many of the world's poorest nations as well. It is really quite sad.
About a year ago, we opened and implemented an organ donor registry in Alberta. The Library of Parliament just got back to me with some stats. The donor registry is now up by over 227,000 people as of today, with 336 people in Alberta currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant. These transplants are up because of this registry. They're up by 20%, which is fantastic, so obviously this registry is working.
My question is for you or the minister. Will the minister and the department support an organ donor registry in this country?