Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'm pleased to be joined on our side today by two of my colleagues who are also physicians. I think they feel as strongly as most of the medical community in Canada that there seems to be a change in Canada's policy, preferring ideologies over science and evidence.
We have seen young patients who suffered from incest or from some other condition who ended up with an addiction. Personally, we know stories of patients who have died before they had the chance to turn their lives around. We know of many patients who, because of their addiction, now are living with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.
It's very sad to have had to ask for this special hearing today. We thought Canada would be a leader on this. I think to have some of the witnesses who are with us today who were there, particularly Mayor Owen and the committee you put together on your framework for action on the four pillars in 2004.... I would ask if you would table that framework for action for us.
I'm also upset at the difficulty in our country at this time...that the Chief Public Health Officer for Canada has remained particularly silent on this. Mr. Kerr, I understood you met with the public health officers for Canada. What was the reception of this idea?
Could all of you tell me what consultation took place in order to remove the fourth pillar of the drug strategy for Canada, and were you consulted?
I would also like to bring to you from my city of Toronto a plea from the public health department there, that they would like to be able to do supervised injections in their needle exchange programs in a decentralized way, like cities like Barcelona, like all of that.
What would be your advice to the Minister of Health about granting exemptions to other public health agencies and departments across the country?
Then I would like your advice on the minister's May 14 announcement that says the $10 million for new treatment services has to be for abstinence-based treatment. This sounds remotely like a Bushism, in that clinical research shows that methadone maintenance plus counselling outperforms abstinence. And who is the Minister of Health to dictate to you in clinical settings the only possible way of receiving federal government funding?
If you could just start there....