Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to speak about what Mr. Martin was touching on a bit before in terms of foreign assessment credentials for physicians. I know one thing he mentioned was that it's possibly an area you could speak about with Health Canada, but the sense I'm getting is that when you talk to officials at Health Canada it's a foreign credential issue. When you speak to people here, it's a health issue. It's very frustrating, because I have the same concerns in my riding as they have in many small communities. The national average for physician shortages is one out of thirty. In small towns it tends to be one out of four.
I had someone who was a surgeon in his country come and visit me a month ago. He can't afford to write the equivalency exams because of the costs associated with taking time off work and for purchasing the books. There is obviously a language barrier and he needs to learn new medical terminology, but this is someone who practised as a surgeon for 20 years in his country.
So what I'm curious about is, what can be done? What is being worked on in terms of making that bridge easier? With the funds associated with the new Canadian agency for the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials, that's encouraging. I certainly hope there is some allotment in there recognizing the difficulties that new Canadians have in meeting our equivalency exams.
I realize that's one stage, and there is also the other problem with a lack of residency spots. But particularly on the front of help and assistance being given for those who have significant costs associated with writing their equivalency exams, what government program is going to be associated, particularly for physicians?