Thank you, Stuart.
I want to acknowledge I am joining virtually from Ottawa, which is the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe Nation.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also shown us that substantial gaps persist in accessing palliative care, particularly at home or in the community. Caregivers for a loved one at home experienced a sharp increase in their duties, exacerbating the need for greater psychosocial, physical, and practical support for caregivers. As a member of the Quality End-of-life Care Coalition of Canada, we urge the government to continue to implement the framework and action plan on palliative care, including an office for palliative care to help coordinate aspects like data collection on palliative care, and to continue to invest in palliative care research.
Finally, we encourage the federal government to play a role in ensuring that Canadians are set up for success in making healthy and informed choices that make it easier to live smoke-free, keep a healthy weight, adopt a healthy diet, be physically active, be sun safe and reduce alcohol consumption. The federal government can play a strong leadership role in implementing policies and programs that will have an important population health impact.
We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the government for supporting the extension of the employment insurance sickness benefit. This extension of at least 26 weeks will change the lives of Canadians.
We look forward to continuing to work together to implement these very important recommendations for people living with cancer and living beyond cancer, including encouraging all parties to work together to pass Bill C-17 promptly, improvements to the delivery of palliative care, the implementation and the extension of the employment insurance sickness benefit and to see the clinical trials fund be implemented.
We thank you very much for your time today, and we look forward to your questions.