It's interesting, because on COVID‑19 and health policies, there have been two ethical discourses. I refer to documents from the Quebec government on trust and transparency. In these government documents, which are written by in‑house ethicists, they say that for there to be trust, there must be transparency. Yet, at the same time, the message must be unique enough and unassailable enough to be accepted by minds that might capsize if the science were called into question.
Science thus holds a discourse that is supposed to generate confidence. In the case of the health crisis, we are always told about science and public management methods to generate confidence, but this is only achieved if there is no evidence that causes doubt. When measures are presented, we are informed of their benefits and told that, since we have been informed, we must believe in those benefits.
These same ethicists say we need transparency. People feel they have all the conclusive evidence to trust what they are told. However, officials should not say too much. That's what this document says. I could send it to you, if you like, for the committee's work. I am on page 15 of the Quebec government document entitled “Cadre de réflexion sur les enjeux éthiques liés à la pandémie de COVID‑19”.