Thank you.
I would like to be very clear on one point. We are not averse to there being projects under your strategy to fight pandemics and viruses, etc. What concerns the Bloc Québécois is the increase in responsibilities being given to Public Health Canada, because that will cause an increase in human resources.
It started out with the Naylor report on SARS and now, with this large structure being built, there is going to be some duplication. Money will be earmarked for the bureaucracy rather than being spent appropriately. Money needs to go to the provinces, because the idea of having Canada-wide standards and objectives is all well and good, but at the end of the day, the provinces need the means to implement their own structures.
I'd like you to explain some numbers in the field of human resources. We have noted that 1,200 Health Canada officials were sent to the Public Health Agency of Canada, but there are 1,825 of them. Mr. Naylor in his report said that there needed to be an increase in funding for the Public Health Agency of Canada in order to meet all the goals outlined in his report, and to respond to public health requirements. When you add in health promotion and chronic disease prevention, such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular illnesses... These are control measures. Given the resources in place, I wonder how you're going to deliver the goods. I think that costs will skyrocket over time. We know that the federal government is responsible for aboriginal people. Yet, with some 1,200 or 1,300 public servants, it is unable to deliver the goods in terms of public health or health in general for aboriginal people. This is one of the reasons why I was very critical of the new Public Health Agency of Canada and of all of the responsibilities you have given yourself under this bill. Moreover, in the preamble to the bill, you did not mention that you were going to respect provincial areas of jurisdiction, but rather that you intend to collaborate. Respecting provincial areas of jurisdiction and collaborating with the provinces are two different things.
Thank you.