Thank you very much. I will do so and be happy to provide further comments.
The two other areas I was going to touch on were the matter of responsible drug policy—and feel free to ask me questions about that—and physician-assisted dying and legal reforms.
I did want to make just a few personal comments at the end. Would you permit me to make those? Apart from my prepared notes, I wanted to tell you what I am committed to doing in terms of my relationship with this committee and what I would request of you in return.
I would like to make a commitment to three things. One is that when it comes to my relationship with the health committee, I commit to be honest with you. There will be times, even today, that I won't have the answers to your questions. I will look for those answers. I will let you know the direction that we're taking, but I commit to being open and transparent.
Two is accountability. The Prime Minister made it very clear to me that I as a minister am accountable to you. That's the way the lines of accountability flow, so I will uphold the direction of the Prime Minister and make sure that I remain accountable to you.
Three, I commit to being fair in responding to the needs of Canadians and responding to the needs of the health committee and responding to you as colleagues in the House of Commons. I intend to always uphold fairness.
My three requests of you would be these. Number one is pragmatism. I ask you in your efforts as a committee to be practical, to look for what we can actually get done. I will be depending on you to get some very important work done in the years ahead.
Number two is to be collaborative. I am delighted that this is a representation of all members of the House of Commons, and I encourage you to collaborate with one another to be effective in your work and to think about the legacy of this committee.
This is a tremendous opportunity. The work that I know you're already considering is of profound importance. What will matter is not necessarily whether you're going to have your name written down in a book as having been a member of this committee over this period of time, but the legacy this committee is going to leave behind. How will Canada and Canadians be different, how will they be healthier, as a result of the work you have done here? I encourage you to think about that, and I'll be happy to respond to any questions.