I think you're right. First of all, it is very complicated. There are no simple answers, but part of it is to make sure that this does not become an issue where we're pitting the federal government against the provinces and against the professional bodies. It is in all of our interests to fix this problem. As Mr. Godin pointed out, we have, on the one hand, people who have tremendous skills--medical skills, for instance--who are driving cabs, and on the other hand, a shortage of doctors in the country. The only thing that prevents them from practising are some artificial barriers. In some cases, they are barriers that were set up perhaps in the past to protect some of these professions. That's not a good enough reason to bar people from entry into these fields.
In other cases, they may be well-meaning barriers that are designed to ensure that people meet a certain standard, but if that's the case, then we all have an obligation, at every level of government and in the professional bodies, to find a way to help people who already have tremendous skills and lots of training to overcome those barriers.
That's what has happened to some degree in Quebec, and I think my job, in part, along with Minister Finley, who is taking the lead on credentials recognition, is to work with the provinces and the professional bodies and convince them that this has to become a very high priority.
Health care, as you know, when you talk to people, is one of the biggest priorities people have. I think we're getting close to the point where the public is starting to really understand what's going on here, which is that we have doctors who aren't practising and we have people who go without doctors. It's a good opportunity, frankly, for federal and provincial politicians to finally say we have the public behind us to tackle this big problem. So I'm hoping that's what we can do in the days and weeks ahead, with the help of my colleagues on all sides of the House.