Mr. Chair, as far as I am concerned, this accord addresses the issue of accessibility, one part of which is the question of waiting lists, but in fact we have to get the structural change right. For example, there are waiting lists in terms of getting to a GP; people get to a GP before they can be referred to a specialist. How do we deal with that? There are a number of things. For example, we need more family physicians, so in fact that is why we are working with the provinces and the territories to create a national human health resources strategy. Then we will have in place the diagnostic material to help us know how many doctors are needed and where they are needed, how many nurses are needed and where they are needed.
Members can look at the accord and part of what we are doing around primary health care, practice and multidisciplinary teams, how much time is taken up by general practitioners, family physicians, in our health care system who are doing what I would describe as important but routine clerical work? How much of it is taken up in seeing patients who in fact should see a nurse or a nurse practitioner and do not need to see that GP?
In fact it is very short-sighted to suggest that the accord does not deal with important issues of accessibility, including waiting lists. Of course it does. I wish we could snap our fingers and magically turn this dynamic, complex system around on a dime, but what we need to do is identify the problems. Is accessibility, including waiting lists, a problem? Of course. Then we work back and ask how we deal with that. There are no magic bullets. We deal with it through structural change. We deal with it through an infusion of new dollars.
We deal with it through the application of technology and the better use of technology. There is a complex set of tools that we in this system need to use to deal with the question of accessibility. That is what the accord speaks to.
And, Mr. Chair, the last time I checked, you ran this place, not the member for Medicine Hat.