Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you all for being here today.
I have a couple of questions and a couple of comments.
First, this past summer, the minister made a commitment at the CMA meeting in August to fund 15 new residency positions and implement a repatriation program for Canadian physicians and students abroad. I'd like to know when that initiative will be implemented.
Second, if you look at the estimates, you'll see that the drug treatment funding program has been cut 94.9%; the drug strategy community initiative, 63.7%; and the federal tobacco strategy, another staggering 52.9%. I find that to be absolutely, completely remarkable, given how prevalent this is.
Mr. Rosenberg, you mentioned quite correctly the changes that have been implemented, such as sizing on packaging and such with tobacco. But the major problem we're having, as you know, is the trafficking in illegal tobacco products that are coming in across border, primarily driven by organized crime gangs from the United States. I would just impress upon Health Canada, if they have a plan to work with other counterparts in the government, to stop this, because this is a much larger public health threat with respect to a tobacco strategy.
I have two more comments.
First, the most profound impact we could have on reducing an array of chronic diseases and improving population heath is to implement, with the provinces, a national head start program, an early learning program for kids. That would have the most profound impact, particularly, as you know, with the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity and what that is going to do down the road in terms of the prevalence of chronic diseases.
Finally, there is a way, as you know, of actually getting medical isotopes without using nuclear reactors. It is a non-nuclear-reactor-generated mechanism for getting the isotopes we need. I would just impress upon Health Canada that this might be a route it would want to look at in terms of getting sustainable access to medical isotopes in Canada.
The last two were the comments, and the first couple were the questions.
Thank you.