Finance committee  You know, the way the law is written, I don't know that it increases or decreases the ability of the chief public health officer to speak frankly to the minister or to the public or to their colleagues. I know from experience as a chief public health officer that there may be all

Finance committee  In a couple of ways it's similar; in a couple of ways it's different. First of all, there's no province that I know of where the chief public health officer is at the deputy minister level. Some of them have assistant deputy minister level and functions; most of them report to

Finance committee  Yes, there's a very important benefit, and I don't see that the changes to the Public Health Agency of Canada Act that are being proposed alter that in any way. The chief public health officer can issue a report, is required to issue a report every year, and can issue any report

Finance committee  Hello, Mr. Chairman, and thank you. I'll very briefly say thank you for the opportunity to present at this hearing. I'm going to speak as an individual, although I'm affiliated with the university and with other organizations that I won't take the time to describe at this moment