Mr. Speaker, as tired as I am, what keeps me going is knowing that all Canadians are tired and that it is an exhausting time, actually, for global citizens. This is a terrifying time for Canadians, and it is a terrifying time for global citizens, but it is an honour to serve my country, as I am sure the member feels every day when he gets up and serves his constituents.
The member is right that we do have a federation. The challenge, in some ways, is that we have provinces and territories that operate very independently from a health delivery perspective. That is the nature of the way our country is set up. What that means is that we often have different systems of care, different data systems, different approaches and different public health units set up. That is challenging, especially if we are talking about this in the context of taking over health care systems.
We have to be careful, when we are responding in the middle of an emergency, that our response would in no way make something worse, and that whatever we do should be an add-on to the work that is already being done in local communities, rather than in any way jeopardize care that is delivered through provincial systems that are sophisticated, independent and have the responsibility to deliver care. We do have an opportunity, though, through the pandemic and through the work of the federal government, to identify significant gaps and build on those gaps.
Data is an example. At the beginning of the pandemic, in many instances cases were faxed in to the public health unit with very basic data missing, such as the gender or the age of the person who was sick. People would ask about disaggregated data and in my heart I would smile a bit, thinking that even just the gender or the age might be helpful. We have come a long way since then. Part of that is the investments we have made of $19 billion, including $4 billion of that for data, as well as the constant and ongoing collaboration at the civil service level and, yes, even at the political level.
Sometimes it is very challenging in a political media space, and it seems like there is a lot of fighting and jarring going on, but I can say that, for example in Ontario, Minister Elliott and I have a fantastic working relationship. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but she knows that Canada has Ontario's back. She does not hesitate to call me when she needs something, and I do not hesitate, and I often do, to pick up the phone to say, “How can we help?” That is truly the nature of a good democracy.