Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'm going to ask my questions, but because I have only seven minutes I want to get very succinct answers, if I can, please.
I'm going to start by asking about some of the cuts in the budget and why they were done and how the Department of Health is going to be able to cope, given some of the cuts. For instance, we see that the whole health portfolio since 2012 has had $200.6 million cut from it, so its ability to do the work it has to do is very compromised. My question, then, is not just about that but about, for instance, health promotion and disease prevention.
We have seen the tobacco strategy eliminated, and we have seen cuts to substance abuse and addiction funding, etc.—cuts of 35% in tobacco alone. Given that six million Canadians still smoke, how is this going to decrease the burden on the health care system for cardiovascular disease, lung disease, etc., which is going to obviously cost the system at the other end?