Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses and my fellow committee members for being here today.
Certainly, as Conservatives we want to make it very, very clear that there was a failure of leadership in this government in being prepared for the pandemic and the unfortunate circumstances that have continued to persist throughout the pandemic.
The problem here, of course, is that we have lost 30,000 lives in Canada. That is also comparable to the 42,000 Canadians who died during World War II, in which we mounted a massive effort for change. This government has not done that. This failure of leadership has left the provinces with only the ability to have lockdowns as their primary method of treatment. The unfortunate thing is that this is what we're left with as Canadians.
Minister Duclos, I have a few questions for you, sir. Before the pandemic began, acute-care bed occupancy, according to the OECD, in Canada was 91.6%. Only two countries were worse. Are you aware of this problem, sir?