Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It's great to see you, Minister. Thank you for being here.
I want to ask you a question about pandemic preparedness. It's great to see that Bill C-14 takes this seriously. As we know and as we saw with COVID-19, pandemics can strike at any time and I think we have to be on guard and on watch for future pandemics.
I'm reading directly from the fall economic statement where it says that $1.5 billion is proposed to procure PPE and provide warehousing and logistics support so that PPE can be delivered quickly, when needed, along with medical supplies to provinces and territories and indigenous communities, as well as to ensure the readiness of the national emergency stockpile.
Could you speak to the importance of that? I can't tell you the number of constituents who, over the past year, have asked what the government is doing to prepare for, heaven forbid, the next pandemic. What can we do to further ensure that Canadians are safe in that regard?