Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will be trading my spot in the rotation with MP Van Bynen.
My questions and comments will be directed to Dr. Attaran.
First of all, Dr. Attaran, so you understand where I'm coming from, I was a local medical officer of health for some two decades here in Ontario and obviously coped with many outbreaks. Even during SARS, we were heavily involved in our health unit. The leadership we looked to at the time was, for sure, a provincial leadership in terms of public health response.
I think you can agree that with this pandemic we really are in an unprecedented situation. Clearly there is a need for a national coordination of public health responses. Thank you for being blunt. We are here as members of the committee to ensure that we listen to people such as you, take your good ideas and move forward in terms of incorporating some of those ideas in this truly unprecedented situation.
I want to ask you about the fact that the Government of Canada did enter into a multilateral information-sharing agreement with all provinces and territories in 2016, and that agreement did outline the public health information that must be shared with the federal government in the context of a public health emergency, which is clearly where we are now.
In your view, what types of challenges have been associated with that sharing of provincial and territorial public health information with the federal government? Could you give us some specific areas where you see that the agreement might need to be tightened up?