Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
A few years ago I was at the aboriginal affairs committee and we had a group of elders there, and through the whole presentation the people never once said the word “senior”. They always said the word “elders”. When I asked afterwards why, they said because “elders”, in their view, is a sign of respect; “seniors”, in their view, means an older person.
So I will just throw this out. Have you ever thought of changing the word “seniors” programs to “elder” programs? I was in Resolute Bay just recently. And this goes to Madam Hinton's point that we should be starting these physical education things much sooner than when they're seniors. Elders there are invited into the schools and they are an integral part of the education system. It keeps them fresh, it keeps them with kids, and it teaches them interaction, as you said, to be active in the community. I don't know if you've ever looked at that in terms of recommendations for federal to provincial to municipal...and for other community groups to interact elders with the school systems in order to promote that continuity of wellness in that regard.
That's the statement.
I want to say that Mr. Shipley raised a good point about the amount of drugs people take. I couldn't help but notice that Pfizer is one of the sponsors here in this group, and I just want to play devil's advocate here. Pfizer is one of the world's largest drug manufacturers in the world. Wouldn't that be seen, if you wanted to be critical at all, as possibly just a hint of a perception of conflict in that regard?
I'm glad to see Pfizer using their money to help research for seniors, and I don't want to say stop them from doing it, but couldn't there be a perception of conflict in that regard? I say that with the most positive of views, by the way.