Dr. Joel Lexchin at the Industry, Science and Technology Committee

On February 16th, 2021. See this statement in context.

February 16th, 2021 / 11:45 a.m.

Associate Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Emergency Medicine Division, University of Toronto, As an Individual

Dr. Joel Lexchin

I don't think it was just the Conservative government that is to blame for this. When the Chrétien government came into power, I think in 1993, it did not engage in any investment. The government seemed to ignore the recommendations of the Naylor report, which was commissioned in 2003 after SARS. In fact, Harper didn't do anything and neither did Trudeau. In fact, they let the PHAC early warning system deteriorate such that we were taken, more or less, by surprise by the pandemic.

I don't think we can blame this on any one government. I think it's been a failure to look at things in a future sense and take action.

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