Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses.
The Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities is conducting this study on the realities experienced by seniors during the worst of the pandemic. However, some of the issues were already there, long before we began our work. We can discuss the living conditions of our seniors in a comprehensive way, from a financial, social or health perspective.
Ms. Oko, unfortunately, many seniors in residences are experiencing a situation like yours and your mother's. The same thing happened in some Quebec facilities. I would not lump all public seniors' care facilities together, because we also saw some good examples and good practices during the pandemic. However, the pandemic snuck up on us, and every province took steps to deal with it, to the best of their abilities. At times, it was painful for seniors, their loved ones and their families.
They had to take action to protect seniors, including preventing their loved ones from visiting them, and you're absolutely right that isolation had a variety of effects. Thank you for your testimony, even though it was difficult. I feel it reflects the glaring testimonies of people across Canada, depending on the network.
On the other hand, I have to say with all due respect that I'm skeptical of one solution that you seem to be putting forward, which is national standards that would come from Ottawa to regulate what's done in each province. I could tell you about the countless standards that we have in Quebec for our institutions and the organization of health care. These are choices we have made, particularly with respect to the number of attendants per patient. I don't believe that can be governed by a national policy that would apply uniformly. I have a very hard time believing that it will fix the situation.
However, you mentioned something that we believe is important. You talked about underfunding with respect to personnel. So it's the underfunding [Technical difficulty] of the provinces, which have the skills to organize health care, because it's a provincial jurisdiction. So Ottawa has to contribute. The Ontario and Quebec governments had one request for the federal government: significantly increase health transfers so that the federal share of funding for expenditures meets the needs of the provinces so they can deliver services.
How do you feel about the position of the Ontario and Quebec governments and others? Does Ottawa need to make a bigger contribution?