First, I must say that the issue of public safety is extremely complex, because it has many dimensions. In the case of a virus that threatens the population in general, we first expect the government to do everything it can to protect the public, including cooperating to find solutions. We expect that if a solution exists elsewhere in the world, the government will take action. First of all, we try to work with all scientific communities around the world to find a solution. This is really important, because if a tragic event were to occur, other types of questions would be asked. People would ask the government what it's done to protect the public and whether it has sought a solution. So it's important to cooperate as much as possible.
However, the world has changed a great deal over the past five years. Five years ago, we certainly had a problem with China. That was absolutely the case. However, for me, it's terrible to think that a country could play with a virus for geopolitical reasons. To me, that's something else. As Minister of Health, I have a lot of objectives on my mind at the same time, because many threats are still present. I'm very concerned about that.
So we have to cooperate with all countries as much as possible. It's therefore extremely unfortunate that we can now no longer work with a country as big as China. China has a lot of incredible scientists; they have enormous potential to find solutions for their country, for our country and for people in general. It's very sad that our interaction with a country like that is coming to an end. That has major implications, not only for Canada, but for the world.