Mr. Chair, there is no question that health human resources is a very important issue and challenge for our health care system. That is why in fact in the health accord that matter was dealt with in relation to providing funding so that we can work with the provinces and the territories whose issue this primarily is, so we can work with them to put in place a national health human resources strategy. Part of that strategy is identifying how many doctors in the various areas we need and are likely to need, and the distribution of those doctors.
In fact there is no question, and it has been identified by small provinces, poorer provinces than our own, as the hon. member for Macleod knows, that there are issues around distribution, especially of health care specialists. We need to address that. We cannot turn a blind eye if the only pediatric cardiac specialist in all of Atlantic Canada is attracted away to another part of the country. We cannot ignore that fact. What we have to do is say that there are pressures as it relates to health human resources. Of course we cannot nor would we want to deny anyone mobility, as that is silly in our country, but on the other hand we have to acknowledge the fact that some regions and some communities find it harder to keep various kinds of health specialists than others and we have to address that as part of our health human resources strategy.
We may be able to do a little of it through tele-health and through robotics. Amazing things are happening, as we saw with McMaster in North Bay and robotic surgery. There are a host of things we can do to help communities, but if the hon. member is saying that the distribution of health human resources is an issue in our country, yes, of course it is.