Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
This budget provides nearly $4.8 billion in funding for measures related to COVID‑19, bringing the total to $16.1 billion for 2022‑23.
Canada has 467 health care centres, each with one to five employees, and hospitals with over 500 employees. For $237 million, it has purchased a total of 40,000 ventilators, over 12,000 of which are unused and unsold. A total of 40,000 ventilators for 467 health care centres means about 100 ventilators per centre, even for those with one to five employees. It seems to me that's a lot and Canada may have overestimated its needs.
Is reimbursement of the total amount for the unused and unsold ventilators included in the $16.1 billion related to COVID‑19? If not, how does the government plan to get reimbursed for the surplus ventilators purchased?
In addition, I'd like someone to explain why we paid so much for vaccines that ended up in the garbage because they had passed their expiry date.