Mr. Chair, I can say anecdotally that I attend the Six Nations of the Grand River Band on a regular basis, at least weekly. The residents there are very heartened and encouraged by what this Minister of Health and this Minister of State for Public Health are doing to eradicate health problems which those good people face.
I would like, by way of a follow up, to ask the minister about vaccines. With the commencement of flu season, we are reminded of the importance of being vaccinated against influenza. However, in a policy and operational sense, the issue seems somewhat larger than that this year. For instance, we are hearing some concerns about insufficient supplies of flu vaccine in the United States. The corollary question is, will we have enough here in Canada?
I am confident the minister can give us the latest information on the state of influenza vaccines. I would appreciate hearing about that. I would also like the minister to address a couple of other vaccine related topics. Over the past few years, we have heard stories or rumours now and again about the threat of a worldwide flu pandemic. This is obviously a serious concern to health experts.
I recall reading somewhere not long ago that more people died during the famous Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 and 1919 than died in the entire first world war that raged for more than four years. Obviously and thankfully, a lot has changed in the world of health since 1919. Our society has better ways to track the spread of a virus and to protect ourselves accordingly.
Even so, with travel being much faster these days, a global influenza pandemic could spread faster than ever, thanks to airline travel, instead of taking many days to spread when people customarily travelled the world by ship. I would like to know, how prepared is Canada for an influenza pandemic?
I would also like to ask the minister about smallpox and smallpox vaccine. I appreciate that smallpox has been eradicated around the world, but I understand there are concerns that it could come back, perhaps spread by terrorists, for example. Could the minister comment on these questions within questions?