Health committee  When regulations are developed under section 14, what constitutes informed consent, what constitutes counselling, will be the subject of the types of issues you raise today. They're valid questions, of course. We will have the opportunity of talking to parents, to children from these procedures, as well as to clinicians and practitioners to find out the current practices, as you referred to some of them, and what will constitute adequate education.

Health committee  I will start by commenting that I of course totally agree. Informed consent associated with counseling will be key to how we proceed. I would only like to confirm that section 8 consent is very specific to a certain type of consent under the act, and of course section 14 of the act provides fuller coverage.

Health committee  A second home. Over the summer, we at Health Canada developed a plan that will allow the agency to begin its licensing and enforcement activities as soon as possible. I'll address this strategy in a few minutes, but first I'd like to make a few other comments. This standing committee has played a significant role in shaping the legislation we now have in place.