Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all of the members of the committee, including the witnesses, for coming here on a busy Wednesday night.
Recently, the Parliamentary Budget Officer's report concluded that the government's projected borrowing requirements will begin to exceed the maximum amount in 2026-27 as the debt crosses the $2-trillion mark. The PBO bluntly told Canadians, “The government will need to make choices to either [raise] revenues or cut spending in order to [stop] this unsustainable path that we're on.” Already the Liberals are spending more on interest payments for their debt than they are on health care.
AMR is a health care issue. Cutting health costs will cause concerns about the spread of AMR, especially in neighbourhood health centres and also possibly in hospitals.
My question is for Mr. Wright.
You mentioned in your briefing that Canada does not have AMR labs or research. You said, “There is no AMR panel.” It's bundled in with fungal and pesticide research. You mentioned that Canada risks losing academic talent in research on AMR, and that Canada lacks early-stage research. Can you please expand on that?