Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a matter of priorities. Canada's provincial health ministers are way out in front of the government. They are already working on their own emergency response plans. The U.S. secretary of health recently made a televised appearance to assure that his department is ready and prepared to respond to a chemical or biological terrorist attack. Yet our Minister of Health is not even on Canada's new security committee. The question is, if this is such a high priority issue, why is he not on the committee?
In the House of Commons on October 3rd, 2001. See this statement in context.