Take health for example. Canada has a great health care system. It is very expensive and, with the demographic changes, the cost will not go down.
In some provinces in Canada and in the U.S., the approach being increasingly used is that citizens are placed at the centre of managing their health. They become more proactive. That is done with the help of what we call a “personal health record” on an iPad. People learn to manage their health information, such as a diagnosis, and they always bring the digital information to health professionals.
In the U.S., Kaiser Permanente has 15,000 doctors. This non-profit organization has 8.8 million patients. Systematically, exchanges are done digitally. The patient data are transmitted directly on a daily basis, for things such as sugar levels and blood pressure. That makes it possible to significantly reduce doctor appointments and hospitalizations. This is a global trend that can allow the health care system to survive. Ours is excellent, but it's a matter of placing individuals at the centre of management with the help of the digital tools.
Other provinces have already bought the necessary tools and are in the process of implementing them. We are carrying out experiments in Quebec.