Mr. Speaker, I have worked with this member often. We worked on the AIDS file at the subcommittee on HIV-AIDS which he may recall, and a few others.
The synergy and the dialogue that has gone on within the health committee over all those years that we were involved together, such as the plain packaging for tobacco, is probably, in a microcosm, a reflection of the importance of us working together: the Bloc, the NDP, the Conservatives and the Liberals.
We achieve more as a group than we would ever achieve if we all went away and did our own thing. I would suggest to the member that quite possibly that is a good model also for Canada, that we work together.
Let me leave the member with what I honestly believe to be an important foundation value that I have. The measure of success of a country is not an economic measure. It is in fact the measure of the health and the well-being of its people. As a parliamentarian I have always tried to move toward those things which would in fact enhance the health and the well-being of the people, with full cognizance that some are better off and better able to care for themselves.
I would say that in regard to his question about dealing with this agency, Quebec can do certain things with the Quarantine Act, et cetera, but there are no boundaries to disease. It is very quick and we have a linked approach, not only to the provinces and the territories but internationally, to collaborate internationally, to make absolutely sure that we are part of the leading edge to address matters such as pandemics.
This is not a responsibility that each province should take individually. As the member well knows, in Canada some regions are not as well off as others and cannot do as much, or as comprehensively, or as good a job, or attract the kind of people they need. In fact, in some cases there may only be one or two individuals available in all of Canada who may be the people we need to lead in terms of pandemic preparedness, and I think Dr. Butler-Jones is one of them.
Therefore, how can we say that if a province can get somebody good enough, it will be taken care of, but if it cannot, that is its problem because we have ours? That is not the approach I take. As long as Canada is made up of 10 provinces and 3 territories, we are going to work on behalf of all Canadians, and in my Canada, that certainly includes my Quebec.