I completely agree when it comes to the jurisdictional question between the federal and provincial governments. For us, this has become a time when we need to look at this as a shared responsibility. I think the transition of the age of our population across Canada can't be borne by the provinces alone. For us, that is a critical consideration in terms of how the provinces and federal government work together.
For national standards, we absolutely will work with the federal government. As I noted before, we strongly support the implementation of the use of data to be able to understand what standards are needed and how they can be looked at in different jurisdictions.
We do have a very specific financial ask that we've put forward as part of our federal budget submission, which is $2.1 billion, specifically targeting needs around COVID over the next two years. We believe that is required to stabilize the situation in long-term care. It's for immediate repairs and infrastructure. It's for staffing and looking at issues around wages and recruitment incentivization. It's of course for purchasing PPE.
Beyond that, there absolutely is a discussion required to address these long-standing systemic challenges. We know it's required for the future of long-term care.