Thank you, Madam Chair.
I too wish all members of the Standing Committee on Health a pleasant and happy 2012.
In response to my colleague, Mr. Carrie, I will say that the NDP has no intention of playing little political games. I think we should remember what led us to call this emergency meeting: it was the provincial premiers' response to the meeting held on January 17, well after the Christmas holiday. So there was no way to anticipate that.
We also knew that our program was already full going into March. We felt that it was an urgent problem affecting all Canadians, and the point of holding this meeting goes well beyond our partisan ideologies.