Senator Gold: I have to admit that I don’t have a direct answer to your question. The reason why the government asked the provinces to share their data is clearly because what we had was inadequate to best serve Canadians. That said, I’ll inquire with the government and try to obtain a more direct answer to your question. Thank you.

[English]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: I agree with you on the issue of sharing data. However, we already have the Canadian Institute for Health Information, which involves the provinces and the federal government. I understand what the government wants to create, according to the expert advisory group that it established, and I will quote what this new organization is supposed to be so that you can properly understand my question:

Implementation . . . would be advised by a competency-based Health Information Stewardship Council (Council) and facilitated by one or more representative Learning Health System Table(s) (LHS Table(s)), accountable to the Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT) Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health. . . .

The LHS Table(s) would work with the Council to establish integrated roadmaps to implement the learning health system and secure investment . . . .

Senator Gold, my question is simple. Why does the government prefer to create a new organization that it describes with such administrative gibberish rather than using an existing organization that has a clear and functional mandate?