Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Let me thank all the witnesses for their testimony. It helps us understand the collateral damage of the pandemic. I'm going to start with Dr. Perrault.
Dr. Perrault, I want to thank you for taking the time to meet with us. You practice emergency medicine, so we have a lot to gain from your being here. I would also like to thank you for the quality of your testimony, which was surgically precise, if I may say so. You summed up the situation in such a clear way that sent chills down my spine. Your voice joins those of Dr. Bélanger from the Association des gastro-entérologues du Québec, Dr. Champagne from the Association des médecins hématologues et oncologues du Québec, representatives from the Canadian Cancer Society and Dr. Shabah from the Canadian Medical Association.
First, you say that you are trying to keep the percentage of patients outside of acceptable delays at around 10%, but that the percentage has gone up to 45%. It's like playing Russian roulette, and the stake is sudden death.
Can you explain this further?
The experts who appeared before the committee in the first wave of the pandemic told us that the health care system was already weakened by chronic underfunding over the last 30 years. No one could say how the situation was going to change. That was during the first wave. Now we are dealing with the third wave.
Are you worried?