Health committee  The initial jump was really a reconciliation, because there are elements of the agency that were a branch there that had common functions with Health Canada. Some elements moved into the agency; some stayed in Health Canada; some continue to be shared. A large part of that change

Health committee  Clearly, first of all, public health is a local function. That's where the action happens. But it needs to be connected regionally, provincially, nationally, and internationally. The other thing is that no jurisdiction has the capacity alone to deal with these issues. So what t

Health committee  The Naylor report not only mentions infectious diseases, but also the other issues relating to public health. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of having cooperation between jurisdictions. Our collaboration with the provinces and territories will have to include all public h

Health committee  The legal basis for reporting generally, I guess, is because it's a local activity and it is reporting to the local medical officer who then reports to the province. There are a number of diseases that provinces then report to us--not nominally, not with names--so we can track th

Health committee  Also, the practical thing is that they're dealt with locally. But then we have systems in place to track, nationally and internationally, patterns of disease so that we can actually go back and see that there might be five cases in Vancouver and three in Saskatoon and four in Tor

Health committee  Probably one way to speak to that is to say we'll work together the way we're working now. While we're a separate entity currently--separate authorities, my accountabilities, budget authorities, etc.--we work very closely. We're part of the same health portfolio. Both the deputy

Health committee  Preparedness measures to fight a pandemic and other illnesses involve collaboration between the provinces, the territories and the federal government. Decisions are taken jointly, specifically regarding the various areas of jurisdiction of each level of government. Regarding pill

Health committee  We already have offices in the regions. In Quebec, through our collaboration with the Institut national de santé du Québec, we have national resources within the institute. We work in partnership with and support the activities of the institute.

Health committee  There are ongoing reports that come from the Public Health Agency, usually of a technical nature, that support best practices and advice on how we manage different issues in both infectious and chronic disease, etc. That's an ongoing thing. For example, the Public Health Agency s

Health committee  We're coming back at some point to talk about the issues. There is a framework that has been developed for that, and I know people are working on how we move it forward. Whether a Chief Public Health Officer report would be the piece needed in addition or as part of...is still op

Health committee  I think that's a reasonable reflection. There are my federal accountabilities as a deputy within the federal system as well as a chief adviser on public health issues for the federal government, but also there are linkages through the public health network, which again is a colla

Health committee  It relates to the provincial authorities and accountabilities. We also have federal accountabilities around the Quarantine Act, borders, and issues that we have in terms of our own populations that we deal with, which are different in that way.

Health committee  I'm an adopted prairie boy, for sure. Thank you very much for the questions. It's a good list. First, in terms of relationships with other departments and deputies, there are the deputy-level relations I have on the committee that's specific to pandemics. But I also sit on othe

Health committee  Certainly, what's visible does not necessarily reflect what's a priority or of importance. In public health, the prevention of disease, the control of both chronic and infectious disease, and preparation for pandemics are all important. The public health capacity at the local le

Health committee  We do have people. Let me just make a general comment. The more we can invest in public health generally, the better off as a population we will be, but it's up to society to decide the relative proportions.