Okay. Thank you very much.
Having the responsibility for this contract, I would suspect that you would know the cost to GSK, and therefore the difference between the cost and what you are actually paying.
However, let me turn now to the subject that was raised earlier by my colleague Carolyn Bennett around the cost to the provinces. We know that the cost for the pandemic is being largely borne by the provinces and the territories. The costs you are assuming are for 60% of the vaccine, so if you really stretch things, it amounts to about 10% of the entire response of governments to the pandemic being covered by the federal government and 90% by the provinces. I am wondering if that is fair, based on a normal response in the face of a national emergency.
Secondly, would you at least be willing to return to the provinces the costs associated with the fact that there were so many changes from your end, in terms of amounts of vaccine, the “on again, off again” approach, the fact that clinics were started and clinics were shut down, priority lists were made and priority lists were removed, people were moved about, staff were hired and staff were sent back home? All those changes are a huge extra burden—which has been raised with you, in fact. This is not me making it up; the provinces have raised it with you.
My question is very simple: will you reimburse the provinces for the extra costs they have identified as a result of problems associated with your delivery of this end of the pandemic?