I think this is one of the spots where the federal government deserves a lot of credit, because they recognize that this is one of those issues that is absolutely federal and provincial. How do we do this? They have taken it as an opportunity to exercise co-operative federalism. It's a muscle we haven't been exercising a lot recently, but this is one of those moments, and they've taken it. They've said, “We're going to facilitate the development of this together with the provinces and territories”. They're putting their money where their mouth is on the facilitation of development with the provinces and territories. It's a pan-Canadian care pathway.
What that is about is protecting the conscience of providers, ensuring access for patients, and protecting the privacy of willing providers. They've recognized the need for conscience protection, but it's dealing with it in the way that makes a lot of sense in terms of our division of powers, in terms of our history with respect to where conscience is regulated, and with respect to this sense of co-operative federalism. Where we have shared jurisdiction, let's talk, let's do it together, and let's figure it out and not torture something into a federal act. That isn't the way to do it.
I think that's promising for having some harmonization. I hope that group would bring the federation of colleges and physicians, and the surgeons, and the nurses to the table and say, “We're all sitting down here, and we're not leaving until we figure this out together”, because the colleges of physicians splintered within a week of getting together on this, and that's problematic. The nurses, not so much, and that's fascinating.
Let's say that this is the kind of thing that we solve together, and bring those different levels of regulation together to solve it, because everybody shares the same goals. I want to protect conscience, you want to protect patient access as well, and we all want to protect privacy. I think that's how we have to do it.