Thank you, Madam Chair.
My question is for Mr. Hamill and Ms. Fralick.
As far back as 2003, the Naylor report on the SARS crisis was very critical of Canada's lack of scientific research capacity on a national level and suggested that significant dollars be spent to increase that capacity, while linking it to academic institutions through several partnerships.
In February 2020, Dr. Gary Kobinger, a highly regarded Quebec microbiologist, contacted the government and said that discussions needed to be set in motion to form partnerships, as was being done in Britain, for example. So, from the beginning, Canada could have formed partnerships for domestic production of a vaccine.
Earlier, you told us about the lack of communication with the Prime Minister.
Did Ottawa's inaction cause us to lose several months?