Mr. Speaker, I recently held a round of town hall meetings in all the communities in my riding, and this issue came up at every one. The issue is simple. The petitioners are concerned that not only is there a crisis in access to family doctors across Canada, as approximately 4.8 million Canadians do not have a family doctor, but it is specifically acute in areas like the region I represent, rural areas. It is the case that in places like Victoria, B.C., which is not rural, obviously, and Sidney, where I live, average wait times for walk-in clinics are 92 minutes and 180 minutes, respectively.
There is an acute need for action to ensure that there is access to medical care for every Canadian, including in our rural areas. The petitioners ask the government to work with all provinces and territories to come to a holistic and fair solution to Canada's family doctor shortage.