Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Happy new year to all.
As Mr. Davies said, we are all veterans in this committee. It was a pleasure to work with him and all other members. We have been together on the health committee since 2015.
I want to welcome all new members to this committee. I know we will do a lot of important work for Canadians this time as well.
We can all agree that Canadians' health is our top priority. We are all happy to hear from the minister and other officials. I know that when we met in December, Mr. van Koeverden volunteered to have the minister here, without any committee member asking for it beforehand. He said it was because we all want to do good work.
Mr. van Koeverden was saying that the Government of Canada provided significant support to provinces and territories. Mr. Chair, $8 out of every $10 spent on the fight against COVID-19 has come from the federal government. The bottom line is that we should put politics aside and come together as a committee to confront this world crisis. As we begin our work together as Parliament's health committee, I look forward to constructive work for all Canadians.
Let's find a way to work together moving forward. That is what Canadians want us to do. In the spirit of that, I think we can all support this. We can vote on this motion when all members have spoken.