Of course.
We've had a hospital‑centric health care system for a very long time. It has also long been predicted that more than 20% of the population will be over the age of 65 at some point. The demand for services and care will become quite different. Right now, a generation of seniors, the baby boomers, the people aged 75 and over, have suffered and died as a result of the pandemic in our long‑term care facilities. This wouldn't have happened if we had been prepared.
We may have standards across Canada, not just in Quebec, but they mean nothing if no one implements them.
I often visit long‑term care facilities because I know people who live in them. I can see that the department visits only every three years. In a public long‑term care facility, the visits are more frequent. In a private long‑term care facility, where the CISSS or organizations often rent places given the lack of space in public long‑term care facilities, the visits are every five years. We may have very strict standards. However, if no one enforces them, the standards won't work.
Certainly, the lesson from the pandemic's first wave is that our long‑term care services needed to be just as ready as our acute care services. This wasn't the case in terms of equipment, preparedness, training and the emergency response.
I witnessed the Canadian Armed Forces enter a seniors' residence here in Laval, where I live. At one point, among the 60 or so employees who work in that residence, 40 were sick with COVID‑19. It took specialists such as members of the Canadian Armed Forces to go in and get things under control.
We aren't prepared to deal with pandemics. Moreover, this won't be the last pandemic. It's the first, and it's a good warning. We must be better prepared and more proactive.
We're at the vaccination stage. One major issue in Canada is that we rely too much on foreign countries for our expanded immunization program, our vaccines and our biotechnology development. We need to reconsider how we build our industries in Canada and encourage pharmaceutical companies to come back here.
I don't know whether you're aware of this, but right now, we depend on the vaccines that enter the country. If there isn't any vaccine, we don't vaccinate anyone. At the end of the day, I believe that this is about preparedness and thinking outside the box much more than in a traditional manner. Unfortunately, our health care systems are used to thinking inside rather than outside the box.
Thank you.