Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Fraser, I'd like to move on to chapter 8, allocations to Health Canada.
The review of the enforcement responsibilities of Health Canada is an area of interest to Canadians. Health Canada is responsible for overseeing the enforcement of a number of products and devices that Canadians depend on to be reliable. You talk about blood monitoring equipment, cribs, pharmaceuticals, and a variety of things.
One of your concerns was that there may not have been sufficient funding to the regulatory arm of Health Canada in order to adequately perform its regulatory enforcement functions. I did note in chapter 8 that there were cuts to spending. There was less funding for core activities in this responsibility in the budget year 2005-06 than there was in 2003-04.
What assurance can you give Canadians that in spite of the less than adequate funding, Health Canada is performing the enforcement of its regulatory responsibilities in a way that fully ensures the protection of Canadians?