I wasn't going to speak on this, but given Mr. Fergus's motion and the fact that it relates to the study and recommendations being due on April 16, and Mr. Green's comments about Dr. Tam not appearing before this committee, as you stated before, I will tell you that I'm extremely disappointed in the fact that Dr. Tam is not coming to this committee. I'll tell you why.
Earlier, when we were discussing motions, comments were made by our colleagues on the Liberal side about the importance of being precise. Motions need to be taken very seriously. I wrote those comments down because, if we truly believe that motions are to be taken seriously and need to be precise, Dr. Tam should be coming here. When we introduced the motion in a prior meeting, it was agreed on a vote of 10-0, Mr. Chair, that we were going to have Dr. Tam come to committee to discuss the collection of Canadians' mobility data and what purpose was being served.
There's only one person who can answer that, and it's the person responsible for the public health response to this emergency. I think it was very important for Dr. Tam to come and tell us why this information and data were important. I know we have the minister coming on Thursday, but the motion was clear and unequivocal. It stated that both were to appear.
The committee has an authority of its own. We can, if we choose, compel Dr. Tam to come. I can tell you that I'm very disappointed that we are not going to hear from Dr. Tam as to why this data was collected secretly from 33 million Canadians to determine public health response. This also relates to the RFP. Publicly, the Public Health Agency of Canada has stated that the RFP was to determine the response to the pandemic—in particular lockdown effectiveness—but also the public health response and measures going forward. Who better to answer those questions than the chief public health officer of this country?
To say that I'm disappointed.... I share Mr. Green's disappointment, as well, that Dr. Tam is not coming to this committee after we voted 10-0 to have her come. I understand she's busy. I understand that we're still at the height of a critical point in this pandemic, but she should take the time for an hour to come to committee and answer these very relevant questions, not the least of which is, what other public health data is available to the Public Health Agency of Canada so it doesn't have to spy on Canadians' mobility data? That data is collected by PHAC, municipal and provincial public health agencies, and territorial health agencies. Hospitalization data is collected as well. That can all be used to determine what a public health response is going to be, so why was this done in secret?
The only person who can answer that question is the chief public health officer of Canada. I'm disappointed, quite frankly, Mr. Chair, that she's not coming to this committee after we voted 10-0. Even the Liberal members voted to have her come to this committee, and she's not coming.