Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Certainly I want to echo the comments of our colleagues, that we want to get moving on this committee lest we all look like we have our skate laces tied together. That's never a good thing, for those of you who don't play hockey.
I do believe that Mr. Hanley's motion is very important and I've spoken to him offline with respect to that as well as to Dr. Powlowski. Being a physician myself, I totally and utterly understand the issues. The only caveat, Mr. Chair, that I will bring forward for our honourable colleagues is the fact that the study on children is unique. The problem with respect to health care resources in Canada is a well-known issue. I'm not entirely sure how much we need to study it, because at some point there does need to be action on it. I'm not sure that studying equates to action. That would be my biggest issue with respect to that.
The future of our country is really reliant upon our children and adolescents. We have no idea of the COVID-related impacts on the health and mental health of children and adolescents. Therefore, my conclusion would be that with respect to starting off with a study related to health care resources when we already know there's a giant problem, whereas we do not know the untold effects on children and adolescents, the argument could be made that the study on children and adolescents is more pressing than a study on the already known fact that we are short tens of thousands of nurses—perhaps 70,000—and multiple thousands of primary care providers. Therefore the only thing I would ask my honourable colleagues to take into consideration is the urgency of the item.
The only other thing I would bring forward is if my colleagues—and I'll take them at their word—would say let's do six meetings on the health care study and bring forth the children study second.
Let's get moving.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.