Mr. Chairman, I enjoyed hearing what the member had to say. I was particularly interested in what he had to say about health care professionals and working in rural areas. He is absolutely right.
There seems to be a gulf in health care between the large communities and our rural areas. If we look at the health standards of individuals living in rural areas they are below the norm of urban areas. At the same time we have a situation in which the number of health care professionals and the other services which are available to treat those people whose health standards are lower are fewer than in the urban areas. It is a particularly large problem.
The member gave a number of examples of things that could be done but I would like him to talk to us a little more about that. At the medical school at Queen's University in Kingston this year I am told that only one of the graduates will be going into family practice. All the others will be going into a specialty of some sort, which means that the chances, no matter what we paid them or what the incentives were, of those graduates going to a rural area are very slim.
I know there will be two new medical schools, one in northern Ontario and one in northern British Columbia. That is a step in the right direction. Does the member have any other ideas about what we can do to persuade the students who are already in the medical schools to, first, go into family practice and then, to practise in rural areas?