Frankly, I think it's disrespectful in any event, but my focus is to look forward and not back.
Frankly, some of the things that were being proposed are of no assistance to the 97 people in my constituency who have been identified as having COVID, such as checking into the reasons for closure of borders, such as seeking documents and requesting that we now find out about the benefits of wearing non-medical masks or going into a number of documents and requesting a number of things. I think what we should be doing—and I appreciate Mr. Davies' comments—is talk not about what has been done but about what should be done going forward.
There are plenty of opportunities for us to go back and check the documents, but I believe the best purpose of this committee is to provide recommendations going forward, based on what we hear from experts.
We have had very extensive discussion in the 34 previous meetings we have had. We have had extensive input from the 71 witnesses. I think we should finalize the report to determine the baseline for what we should be seeking as we go forward. There's a lot of really valuable information.
First, let's finish the report we did in the first session and then find out what recommendations come forward out of it. That's what I think we should be focusing on: recommendations that would go forward.
I have seen a lot of finger-wagging and heard people saying you should have done this or you should have done that. Frankly, my motion, in terms of looking at mental health and how we can deal with the emerging pandemic, is an opportunity to do something on a go-forward basis.
I don't want to see anybody on the opposition side, when this pandemic gets out of hand, saying, “You should have.” I am saying we should have; I am saying we need to focus on the emerging pandemic. I think this is going to be far more trying for our communities as we go forward, and far longer-lasting.
My concern, then, is around the numerous things that have been put forward. All they do is take us away from things we should be focusing on. I think we should set priorities. I think we should agree on what's important and what provides us with information from experts who are pointing the way forward. These are things we should consider.
We heard some of that in the last session. Sadly, only one meeting was on mental health. It's a serious concern that I have that we need to give plenty of thought to now before this becomes a pandemic. There's an opportunity for us to do something proactively. It's something we should agree on as we go forward, and I look forward to the opportunity of putting forward my motion as well.
There's a lot of merit to what's been said by Don about going forward to try to find things we can agree upon, but to the benefit of our constituents and not necessarily in the service of any partisan political masters.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.