I think what we see is that there are certain areas right now within the health system that are particularly in crisis. We believe that targeted investments to ensure that funds go to supporting those areas have more opportunity to create accountability in the system and outcomes for Canadians versus large sums of money being absorbed into a general budget. For example, with regard to surgical backlogs in diagnostic imaging, we know there are hundreds of thousands of Canadians waiting for those procedures, so targeted funding for that, earmarked for hospitals to make sure those services are provided, would benefit those Canadians directly.
We know that there are significant issues with mental health, which has worsened for Canadians throughout the pandemic. Again, funds that can be targeted towards that will ensure that Canadians have better access to more holistic and more extensive mental health supports.
We're talking about primary care. Again, this is a huge crisis. Over five million Canadians are without access to a primary care provider. This is the front door to our health care system, so when you have Canadians without access to that type of care, it's very problematic. It increases costs over the long term, as many chronic diseases remain unmanaged and patients bounce between intermittent types of care.
Targeted investments, in terms of increasing integrated, team-based care, we think, again, can go to creating those better outcomes for Canadians. That's why we're recommending that the federal government, in alignment with stakeholders, identify those priorities and ensure that the funds go to meeting those goals.