Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully to the comments of my colleague on the opposite side. I think that one of the things Canadians need to know is that the World Health Organization is the lead agency on this issue. At the request of the WHO, Canada has sent the Public Health Agency of Canada and has deployed a team of scientists and a mobile lab to Sierra Leone to contribute to the ongoing efforts to stop this Ebola crisis.
Canada has been long involved with Africa. About 80% of our foreign aid goes to Africa. We need to strengthen health care systems so that these kinds of things do not happen in the future. We have untied our aid. We have put money toward the Muskoka initiative to help with maternal, newborn, and child health. The Prime Minister announced more money in May that Canada would contribute for the post-2015 to 2020 development goals. We need to strengthen the health capacities of these countries.
Right now the World Health Organization is the lead agency on this. Rather than saying that Canada should deploy, would it not be better to work in conjunction with the agency that has the lead on this and work with our partners together to ensure that we beat this disease?