Thank you for your question. I'll start with Ste. Anne's hospital and will then answer your question about long-term health care.
Let me give you a little bit of background. After the two world wars, the health care institutions in Canada could not take care of all the veterans who came back wounded. At the time, the Department of Veterans Affairs had a network of hospitals throughout the country to meet the health care needs of veterans coming back from the war.
In the 1960s, following the Glassco commission, the provinces acquired the constitutional responsibility for health care. The hospitals that had been run by the Department of Veterans Affairs were gradually transferred to the provinces. As for your question, the fundamental point to keep in mind is that, when a member of the Canadian Forces is wounded or becomes ill because of his or her military service, the federal government, through our department, contributes to the health care required in connection with the military service. Therefore, the provinces do not assume the health care responsibility for illnesses or injuries related to military service because it is the federal government's responsibility.
As for Ste. Anne's hospital, we are negotiating with the province for its transfer. Right now, the Province of Quebec is assuming some of the costs related to Ste. Anne's hospital because the veterans there are also Quebeckers. So the province receives funding through the Canada Health Transfer, which covers part of the costs of Ste. Anne's hospital.
At Ste. Anne's hospital and at all long-term health care centres, the Department of Veterans Affairs covers the proportion used for improving the health care of our veterans and for all the health care related to their military service.