Thank you very much, Chairperson.
Thank you to all the witnesses for coming here today. I feel we had a very good cross-representation ranging from B.C. to Saskatchewan that included a young student with emerging ideas and technology as well as national organizations. It was a very good representation.
Ms. Collins, I really liked that you started off by quoting Dr. Butler-Jones. I think you said that he said prevention needs to drive the system, which sounds absolutely right on. The multi-billion-dollar question is, how do we change the system, and who does it? Your organization has done some fabulous work in B.C.
I have two questions to all the witnesses. First, in terms of the various roles and jurisdictions, whether provincial or federal, even at the health accords we had in 2004 there was some emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, and everybody seemed to buy into that idea. What specifically do you believe the federal government now needs to do to follow that up and to make sure those commitments are lived up to?
In the second question I want to zero in on a very specific issue, which is dietary sodium reduction. I don't know if you're aware, but a major letter calling for targeted reductions leading to regulation and signed by 17 major national organizations was sent out in December to the Prime Minister. It seems to me that the work that's been done there has been incredibly important, and we're now in danger of losing it. That one thing, sodium reduction, would be enormously significant in terms of labelling and moving towards clear reductions. I am very concerned that we're losing ground on that aspect. Have you done anything within your groups on that isue, or through the alliance in B.C.? Maybe something very positive is going on in B.C. that you could tell us about and that we could learn from.
Those are my two questions. One is a broad one about what the federal government should do to play its role in changing the system, and the other is specifically on sodium reduction. They are for anyone who wants to answer.