Thank you very much, Chair.
Good afternoon to Miranda and Laura.
First of all, I want to say thank you for taking time out of a busy schedule to respond to the invitation of the committee. Also thank you for all your members' hard work during the pandemic. I have six long-term care facilities in my riding of Don Valley North. I have visited them a few times while organizing PPE donations. I've seen first-hand how hard they work. They treat the residents like members of their family. That's the reason most of them are willing to put their safety on the line to provide the support for them. So thank you and, through you, thanks to all your members and your colleagues for doing that.
That being said, reading the most recent report provided by the Canadian military, I got really upset, to be honest, that lives were lost purely due to neglect. I couldn't imagine that this kind of stuff would happen in our country. Also, some of the reports since 2018 have noted that the random checks on long-term care facilities have been suspended, and that kind of feeds into the really terrible picture right now.
I think that's part of the reason we've heard a lot of calls for the federal government's increased involvement in the long-term care sector. We've seen that the throne speech talked about looking at perhaps more severe penalties for perpetrators. We've seen in the budget the $3-billion investment over five years. That leads to a bigger question, which is my first question for both of you.
What's your suggestion for how all levels of government can work together while respecting each other's jurisdiction? I heard my colleague mention occupational standards, which traditionally, I believe, have been a provincial responsibility. Obviously there is a lot of negotiation between the federal government and the province.
What's your vision of how all three levels of government can work together to improve the situation?