Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to correct a fact so that the Canadian and Quebec population are aware of it. The quarantine was imposed in March 2020, but it was in October 2020 that the flexibility measures that Dr. Kochhar mentioned were put in place. I would add that it is more “humane” than “humanitarian” to let people, especially after 10 or 12 days of isolation, go to say goodbye to their loved one or even go to a funeral.
Months later, this had not yet been done. Policies are being put in place without first thinking about special cases. I see this as a problem, in that corrections and improvements to public policies are always made later. When I say “later”, I don't mean the day after and the day after the policy is announced or implemented, but four, five or six months later.
I want to make it clear that the flexibility that we are talking about was applied in very specific cases, for humanitarian reasons, among others, or for people in rural communities, and that it was done very late, and even too late, in many cases. This has led to psychological and physical consequences that are going to last a really long time for many people.
I would like to ask Dr. Kochhar a question.
Dr. Kochhar, I would ask you please to answer only yes or no. Do you think, particularly as a result of my comments, that there is room for improvement in terms of the implementation of health measures by the Public Health Agency of Canada?