Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
I'm going to go back to a question that my colleague Karen brought up, and that's the family doctors and the lack of them.
Last Wednesday, there was an announcement made in Ontario—I'm from Ontario, by the way—that the Ontario government is going to provide $9 million to York University to build a medical school right next door to Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital, specifically for family physicians. I see that you heard about it. It is quite interesting. If I look at the stats in Ontario, I see that 2.3 million people do not have family doctors, and in 2026, four million people will be without family doctors. That's one in four people—and that's just in Ontario. Here's the kicker, though. The school will not be built and finished for occupancy until 2028, and then I think it's another four years....
We're so far behind with family doctors. I know that we Conservatives have a really good plan with our blue seal plan to bring doctors in. In listening to you, I know it's important that we identify these issues so that we can protect women.
In 2018, there were 8.3 maternal deaths per 100,000. It looks like it has doubled in the past 10 years. It is something that is really important, if we're going to stand up for women.
I don't know, but I guess I'm just not normal, because I lost five kids. I think what helped me was my faith and my family and the support system I had around me, which helped me get through it. When I did get pregnant, they made me stay in bed. I think that was worse than anything else, because I'm not the type of person who likes to sit still.
Do you think that those support systems, because of COVID—I know you mentioned COVID—just fell by the wayside?
I'll leave it open to anyone who would like to speak to that.