Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, ladies.
First, I will make a comment, if I may. As representatives of the people and, therefore, as elected officials and legislators, when faced with a public health crisis, we must proceed according to the principle of accountability. No one here has anything to gain from stirring up sensitivities and suspicion around the spread of a virus.
We must speak in measured terms and we must all ask questions, because we represent the people, who are asking themselves questions. Our questions must, however, always be about forward-looking accountability, that is, what will happen tomorrow. We are accountable for what happens tomorrow.
When it comes to contamination and propagation—we are not talking about a pandemic yet and perhaps it will never get to that point—our words must be measured.
Fortunately, ladies, viruses certainly do not recognize gender or race, and they do not discriminate. Their one prominent feature is that they can mutate. I wanted to make one thing clear: we must not play petty politics here. Let us do politics in the noble sense.
The Public Health Agency of Canada told us to work closely with the various provinces and territories, as well as Quebec, particularly with public health services. We have an Ontario public health official with us. Here is what I want to find out.
We have heard about response and contingency plans. Do you have those plans? Could we get a basic idea of these response plans?
We have heard from people and been given updates, but no one has submitted anything to us in that regard. Would you be willing to table your response plan here, given that you represent one of the key public health services in Canada, as you said earlier?