I agree as well. In 1987, when we created the Canada Health Act, we only lived until 76.4 years old. We didn't really have long-term care. If we had designed it thinking forward and if we had a seniors advocate telling us we needed to be thinking about these things, we would never have done anything but not-for-profit care. It would have been part of our health act.
We are not there. Fifty per cent of our long-term care is being provided privately, and I don't see a pragmatic way of easily undoing that while trying to meet the needs of a growing and less able population at the end of life. National standards are going to be critical for making sure that we no longer have the problems we have had.