Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: Senator Gold, my question is about the conflict between Minister Duclos and the provinces over health transfers. Health is a provincial responsibility, which is what makes this impasse so frustrating. This is not shared jurisdiction.

The nub of the problem seems to be the federal government’s desire to attach certain conditions to the transfers so that everyone works toward building “a world-class health data system.” We already have the Canadian Institute for Health Information, a not-for-profit organization whose board of directors includes a Health Canada deputy minister, an official from Statistics Canada and officials from the provincial health care systems.

Why is the government trying to reinvent the wheel and add another layer of bureaucracy rather than speedily transferring its fair share to the provinces?

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?