Thank you very much.
I just heard the member indicate that all politics is local and I frankly agree with that. But I am scared to death of the day that we start to drive public policy, especially health public policy in this country, based on nothing but the interests of local politicians trying to eartag projects for their local ridings. I think we should be looking to try to accomplish something that's of net benefit.
Dr. Butler-Jones, you said earlier that if we had followed some poor strategies, people could die. It's your responsibility, as a chief public health officer of Canada, to undertake, using all of your knowledge and that of your department, the best possible approach to ensure that we are using our money in a way that is prudent and that will deliver results, and I appreciate that a great deal.
You indicated that none of the applications passed the bar. Even if they had passed the bar, there seems to be agreement that we were working based on an initiative that in 2003 was seen as being needed but in 2009 was seen as no longer being the right way to go.
If we entrench ourselves in thinking that we must maintain whatever direction we determined at some point in the past, regardless of any advances, of any increases in capacity, of any new findings that are made in science, is that prudent public health policy, in your opinion?