Mr. Chair, we had the benefit of hearing from the chief public health officer, Dr. Taylor, a very impressive individual.
The concerns that we have with it are not about the individual but about the structure of this entire division 20. We will be voting against it. We will be supporting the amendments proposed by Ms. May as well.
I come from British Columbia and our chief medical officer, Dr. Perry Kendall told the Senate Committee, “We [meaning the other provincial health officers] are actually unanimous in advising you not to proceed with this amendment.”
We've also heard concerns from Professor Hoffman who is from the Harvard School of Public Health and currently at the University of Ottawa. He said that the agency could have a bureaucrat as a manager without placing that person over the chief public health officer.
The act makes clear that the president is a bureaucrat and CEO, and deputy minister, but the chief public health officer is merely an “officer” subordinate to that official. The current incumbent obviously favours this arrangement. We think that as a structural matter, it's very problematic and we agree with Dr. Kendall and Professor Hoffman.
We also heard from Mr. Culbert, the executive director of the Canadian Public Health Association, who said:
...the chief public health officer will no longer have the authority to direct the resources of the agency either in an emergency situation or just in regular times
Mr. Chair, we're very concerned about the independence of this officer. We're very concerned about his or her ability to speak publicly. We note the way in which other scientific officials have been muzzled by the Conservative government.
We're very concerned about this and we will be voting against it in its entirety.