Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In recent weeks we've reviewed interprovincial and federal-provincial transfers and federal-provincial jurisdiction also.
I want to thank you, Dr. Butler-Jones and Mr. Maxwell, for sharing with us infectious diseases.
I would like to take up where Ms. Crombie left off on the international level. I think probably the most terrifying book I can ever remember is the The Andromeda Strain. Bugs have no boundaries. It seems to me that SARS came from China; West Nile came from Africa; AIDS came from Africa; and Ebola came from Congo, I gather. There are twin problems, in that you have no jurisdiction to deal with how things are dealt with in other countries, and secondly, if someone decided to spread a disease as a weapon of war, then you have no control over that.
With that sinister background, I have three questions.
Much of what I read in chapter 5 of the Auditor General's report dealt with the World Health Organization. The first question is wouldn't it be good to expand the membership of the WHO? For various reasons that I don't understand, Taiwan has been excluded. Wouldn't it be good to have Taiwan as a member, and other countries as well?
My second question is how you deal with this. I think I heard you say that other countries are coming to you for reports, which would be a very positive compliment on how we're doing in this area, but how do you deal with the fact that there are all of those other jurisdictions?
My third question is whether there have been lessons learned during your international involvement.