Thank you very much, Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.
Federal transfers have indeed gone down. What I found most worrisome is that, under the Conservative government, federal transfers were not always evenly distributed. Not only were transfers capped at a certain percentage of gross domestic product, but they were distributed on a per capita basis, regardless of age. Provinces with aging populations, such as Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, found themselves at a disadvantage. It was an equity issue that caused a lot of trouble in those provinces, which had to cope with a more significantly aging population.
What I find more disturbing is how negligently the provinces, particularly Quebec, use the funds. More of this money has gone to hospital services and physicians' salaries than institutional care, and the COVID crisis has made that abundantly clear. Home care has been particularly neglected.
Our Canadian system is really based on hospital care. The system was developed in the 1960s and 1970s when we had a young population, based on medically required hospital care. Now, with an aging population, we really need to look at long-term care, and it's much better to provide long-term care at home. In Quebec and Canada, home care has been neglected over the past 50 years. Compared to other OECD countries, we invest only 14% of public funding in long-term home care, unlike other countries like Denmark, which invests 73% of its budget in long-term home care. We have the lowest marks in the OECD class.
If we had further developed the home care component, we could have avoided some of the massacre we experienced in facilities. If they had had the choice, many people would have stayed at home rather than opting for the institutional solution. I believe things really need to change in Quebec and Canada in this regard.