Scott Reid on Questions Passed as Orders for Returns

With regard to preparation and response to COVID-19: (a) why did the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) state that the risk of COVID-19 to Canadians was “low”, following cabinet’s approval on February 17, 2020, of the statement that "the introduction or spread of [COVID-19] would pose an imminent and severe risk to public health in Canada”; (b) which officials, broken down by name or, if names will not be disclosed, by job title or position, drafted or approved the talking points for the CPHO that reads “the level of risk within Canada [...] remains low”, and which is contained in the Annotated Agenda for the federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) health ministers’ special call on novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) of February 3, 2020; (c) which officials, broken down by name or, if names will not be disclosed, by job title or position, participated in formulating the conclusion of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) risk assessment in (b), and what professional credentials or higher education, and in which subjects, do each of these officials possess; (d) which officials, broken down by name or, if names will not be disclosed, by job title or position, drafted or approved the “Responsive, if asked [...]” talking points for the CPHO that are contained in the Annotated Agenda for the FPT health ministers’ special call on 2019-nCoV of February 10, 2020; (e) on which dates has the Minister of Health or her officials furnished advice or direction on the talking points of the CPHO, and what was the guidance or direction, in summary, in each case; (f) with respect to the role of the CPHO as an official advisor to the World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency committee regarding the outbreak of the 2019-nCoV, did the CPHO expressly recommend during the Emergency Committee meetings of January 22 and 23, 2020, that the WHO should immediately declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and, if not, why not; (g) with respect to the role of the CPHO as an official advisor to the WHO as noted in (f), did the WHO request the CPHO to agree to any form of confidentiality or non-disclosure, and, if so, did she agree in writing or otherwise; (h) on which dates did the government give notification to the WHO of COVID-19 and communicate information about the outbreak, as required under Articles 6 and 7 of the International Health Regulations, and what are the details of each such communication; (i) why did the PHAC refuse to support or collaborate in a research grant application to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in which Professor Amir Attaran was to be a co-investigator, and only agree to participate once informed that Professor Attaran voluntarily removed his name from the application; (j) if the research grant application referred to in (i) is successful, does the government object to Professor Amir Attaran participating as a co-investigator and, if so, what are the reasons for the objection; (k) which officials, broken down by name or, if names will not be disclosed, by job title or position, ghost wrote, co-wrote, edited, or otherwise contributed to article by the Prime Minister entitled "Canada's vision for global health and gender equality” that appeared in The Lancet on April 28, 2018; (l) which of the contributors to the article referred to in (k) filed an author statement or International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) form with The Lancet, and what contributions or conflicts of interest did each disclose therein; (m) further to the article referred to in (k), did the Prime Minister file an author statement or ICMJE form with The Lancet and, if so, what contribution did he disclose, and what contributions or conflicts of interest did he disclose therein; (n) how much money was spent by the government in the researching, writing, and promotion of the article referred to in (k); and (o) further to the article referred to in (k), for what reasons was pandemic preparedness, or an analogous topic, not included?