Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I would like to thank all the witnesses with us today, particularly Mr. DeMarco. He and his team did a tremendous job in producing the report.
I also want to emphasize that I totally agree with my colleague, Mr. Lawrence. He pointed out that this report reveals the erosion of our trust in the institutions that are supposed to protect us.
What I understand from the recent testimony and recent responses is that there has already been progress. I am very pleased to see it, but this needs to continue. What the report shows is that there is still a lot of work to do.
The false sense of confidence is very serious, especially at a time when science is being valued less and less. We need our institutions to be exemplary, especially Health Canada.
I'll give an example, a personal one. When I was pregnant, there was very little information about the potential effects of hand sanitizers that contained alcohol. Some people said I should not use it because it could harm my baby. Others ignored it. There was very little information on this. To be honest, I have to say that this was at a time when there was already a lot of uncertainty. The situation was far from ideal. I would have liked to have more information before buying a product. I especially would have liked to know that the product had been inspected and that manufacturing standards had been met.
What I learned from the report is that this was not necessarily the case. The impact may not be felt now, but it could be felt over the next few months or years. I hope that won't be the case.
Mr. DeMarco, can you tell us about the differences between regulations for verifying good manufacturing practices for health products and regulations pertaining to good manufacturing practices for medication?
Can you tell us more about the impact of this regulatory difference on society and on consumers?