Thank you very much, Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses. This session has certainly been fascinating. There has been a real divergence of views, especially from the first three witnesses.
Thank you, all three, for your very considered opinions. We go from one extreme, with Dr. Attaran saying that we haven't gone nearly far enough, to Dr. Schabas saying that perhaps we have gone too far.
Speaking as a member of this committee, of course we're very interested in all of your opinions, but part of what we need to do is to find some commonality, to find where there is agreement. The area where there seems to be agreement, and that we have heard a great deal about from many witnesses, is that there needs to be more of a national data surveillance system as it relates to public health. It's been exemplified by many of you that in fact provinces are collecting data differently. Even in the use of the case definition, there has been a difference from province to province.
Dr. Schabas, given all of your experience, and having known you for so very many years in the trenches, in both urban and rural settings, I will address this question to you. At the end of your remarks, you made a comment in relation to a national surveillance system. I'd like to hear from you on what kind of data you would like to see and where the important areas are that need to be collected. I'm sure you've had to make decisions based on inadequate data, or not as much data as you would like to have had, on many occasions. Could you flesh out for us how you see that national surveillance system?