Thank you for the question.
The important thing with caregivers is, as I mentioned earlier, that some five million Canadians are already providing informal care for their families. That makes it possible for the older person in many cases to avoid going into institution-level care, to avoid bad health outcomes, and so on. It's an extremely important contribution to the public good.
If we were to value the unpaid labour, the estimates run from $12 billion up. The United States will have a survey coming out that suggests that in their context the value is some $370 billion. If we only take 10% of that, which is the rule of thumb, there would be $37 billion. Those are the kinds of values being attributed to the unpaid labour of family caregivers.
In order to make it possible for families to continue with this important responsibility, we have to make sure there is something that will allow them to take time away from their jobs. We have to give them either a refundable tax credit, such as a straight-out allowance, as is done in some European countries, or.... There are a number of options, and it really depends on the government of the day which is most palatable.
But of course it will be quite expensive. Some have estimated the cost as in the neighbourhood of $5 billion, depending how much you give to each person. But if we're talking about that kind of contribution and what value it levers in society and the social glue that it builds, then that kind of cost-benefit analysis is necessary.