Hon. Clément Gignac: Good afternoon, minister. Thank you for being here. My question is about the provinces’ requests for increased, recurrent funding for health care. According to official statistics, the federal government contributes about 22% of provincial health care budgets. At the last meeting of the Council of the Federation, the provincial premiers called for that contribution to be increased to 35%.

Your government has so far responded by saying that its priority is fighting the pandemic and helping Canadians and businesses. That’s what you did. Now, however, more and more experts, political leaders and even colleagues of yours are saying that we’re going to have to learn to live with this virus. Some provinces have even announced that they’re doing away with the vaccine passport. Don’t you think it’s time for Ottawa to agree to the provinces’ request to provide increased, permanent funding, in order to avoid having to shut down the economy because of a lack of capacity in our hospitals?