Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all of the witnesses.
I would like to speak to the situation described by representatives of the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association.
We are seeing labour shortages across the country. The problems vary from province to province and they have different causes, but there is an overall problem with burnout, as well as with recruitment and retention. As you said, it's not about using the same strategy from one industry to another.
My problem is not with what you said, because I think you are painting a general picture of the situation. However, you know very well that the real solutions fall each province's jurisdiction. I will give Quebec as an example. I am a nurse by profession and I was a union representative for nurses for quite some time. As in every province, the major nurses' unions, the Fédération de médecins omnipraticiens du Québec and the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec negotiate the organization of care and the conditions of practice in areas that affect them. The same approach cannot therefore be used to fill full-time vacancies. The federal government cannot use a unilateral approach, as this is not its area of expertise, but that of the provinces.
However, I agree with you that it is absolutely necessary for the federal government to invest significantly in our public health care and social services. Under Canadian law, we must provide universal, free public care and we must have the tools to correct the unfortunate situation you describe. These investments cannot have strings attached.
Quebec and the provinces are making demands to this effect. The federal share of provincial health care spending is currently 22%. If nothing is done, it will be 18% in five years. Restoring the balance between the federal and provincial share of health care spending is imperative, because we see that the federal share is decreasing. The federal share of funding used to be 50%, but now it is 22%. Furthermore, the federal government is not making any commitments. Currently, the federal government commits to giving one-time payments to meet specific needs, but these are not recurring or predictable amounts of money.
Do you agree that the best solution is bring up health care funding to at least 35%, with no strings attached? That would support workers.