Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Congratulations, Minister, on your appointment, and thank you to you and your staff for being here tonight.
Minister, for-profit clinics across Canada are currently charging desperate patients tens of thousands of dollars for two-tier access to non-emergency surgery. The clinics are exploiting a loophole in the Canada Health Act that allows people to pay to jump the queue as long as their surgery is performed in a province where they don't reside.
In the last election the Liberal Party committed to strengthening the Canada Health Act to protect the integrity of our public health care system. Minister, will you act on that promise and act to close this cash-for-access loophole?