Thank you to everybody for all your presentations. That was very wholesome. It was great.
I'd like to start with Professor Attaran. I found your written submission very interesting, and I had to chuckle when you pointed out the fact that some hospitals are still faxing in their data. My first foray into state-of-the-art technology on the farm was when we bought a fax machine back in 1992, 28 years ago.
However, in order to stay in business, we obviously had to invest in better and better data collecting technology. I have to say that I was completely shocked to find out from previous witness testimony at this committee that our health care system doesn't have a real-time data collection system in place, especially considering the different recommendations that have been made following previous pandemics.
We have had several witnesses come to this committee and beg us to find a way to move forward with a pan-Canadian data collection system that works in real time. A system like this could help us on so many different levels, not just during a pandemic, but it seems there is this fear that sharing information in this way will compromise the autonomy of provincial and local health authorities.
In your opinion, is there not a way to ensure that each provincial and regional jurisdiction can continue to make decisions that make sense for them while still sharing their data and helping the country with a more informed pandemic response?