Madam Speaker, we arrived at this point a little earlier than I expected. I am glad I came over to the House a little early.
A week or so ago I asked the Minister of Health a question on bioterrorism. The point I was making was that Canada simply was not prepared for a bioterrorist attack. What I specifically spoke about and questioned the minister on that day was the fact that if terrorists had the ability to deliver the smallpox virus to Canada it would have a catastrophic effect on our country. I compared the preparedness of the United States and the United Kingdom to that of Canada. I pointed out that the United States was prepared to vaccinate 280 million people within a week if it became necessary. I also pointed out that the United Kingdom had taken steps to vaccinate its people in the event that something like that should happen. The fact of the matter is, it can happen and we must be prepared for it.
I also questioned the antidote. When people receive the vaccination that would protect them against smallpox, an antidote is required to counter the effect of that particular drug. Out of every 10,000 people who are vaccinated against smallpox there will be at least one death and possibly more. The antidote is something that we never even considered in Canada and the government does not have a supply of it, yet that antidote itself is manufactured in Canada.
The question would be, if the United Kingdom and the United States are prepared, why are we not prepared? That was the point I was driving at in my question to the minister that day in the House.
I want to quote from an article that appeared in the Edmonton Journal on November 14, about two weeks ago, in which the Defence Science Advisory Board said:
The country should expect attacks which deny “immediate and effective response” says the report, prepared by the Defence Science Advisory Board, whose members are drawn from industry and the academia.
The article goes on to say:
Even if it were possible to distribute cases nationwide in an instant, a major disaster which created 3,000 urgent or critical cases would break the entire system.
It went on again to say:
And health-care cuts have left provinces “with minimal capacity to respond to any emergencies beyond the scale of a bus crash.
What we are saying is that we have to be prepared, we should be prepared and it is important that the Government of Canada act on this real possibility. If other countries have done it we should do it. Why does the government not act? Why does the minister not act?
On top of that, the bioterrorist advisory group that the government set up about a year ago has not yet met. It has been over a year. The only thing it has had is a long distance telephone conference. This advisory group that the Government of Canada thought was so important to set up in response to any terrorist attack on the biochemical front has not met.
The question for the minister is: Why has it not met? Why will it not do something? Why will it not prepare Canada, as the United Kingdom has prepared itself, as has the--