Mr. Speaker, it is only the health minister who actually has the power to invoke the Quarantine Act. She did it with bamboo imports in 2000. Why is SARS not more important than that?
The number of SARS cases continue to increase in places like Hong Kong, China and Singapore. Yesterday the World Health Organization declared SARS “the most significant outbreak that has been spread through air travel in history”.
Do we have a commitment from countries with SARS that air passengers travelling to Canada are being screened before they enter the planes?