I would like to add to that.
Back in 2011 the people spoke and sent me home from this place, and they brought me back in 2015. Between 2011 and 2015, I was president and CEO of a national health charity for people with asthma—another “A”. The way we would focus as a health charity is that we would prefer not to have remuneration at a government advisory board, because that is part of our job as a society. We would like expenses paid for going to meetings.
However, to maintain our independence, to maintain our integrity as a not-for-profit and charitable organization, and we were both a patient organization as well as a health charity, we would think it's actually appropriate for us to work in that charitable sector advising government. That doesn't mean we don't want government funding for various projects. We were always looking for PHAC, Public Health Agency of Canada, funding, etc.
However, I would say that part of the bill is not a negative; it is a positive in the health charity world. It's the way we work. It's the way we keep our independence, the way we do it.
In terms of caregivers and patients going to those meetings, again, we think expenses, obviously...and that's the way meetings happen; there's a budget for a meeting. But remuneration in terms of a per diem payment for your expertise would not be appropriate.