Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for the question. I’ll answer briefly, but it raises some complex issues. Life would be very simple if every time the provinces asked for more money, no matter how it was used, the federal government said yes. That’s not how responsible government works.

Unfortunately, discussions between Minister Duclos and his counterparts were unsuccessful because of the premiers’ influence over their health ministers. They insisted that the money should be transferred without conditions and that they wanted a meeting with the Prime Minister as soon as possible. This is not how the Government of Canada should respond on an issue as important as health care funding.

With respect to your question, I think it’s appropriate for the federal government to ask the provincial and territorial governments to share their data in order to give Canadians, no matter where they live, access to the most appropriate health care system possible for a developed country.