Health committee  Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the opportunity to appear today before the committee. I too would like to take a moment to express our condolences for the loss. Colleagues, our thoughts are with you. As you know, our top priority at public health is the health and safety of C

Health committee  Again, we are not that familiar with what provinces had in their respective stockpiles. Realizing our focus is very much on PPE for the health sector, one of the first things we did very quickly was to get a heads-up in terms of where there would be national and international gap

Health committee  In my opening remarks, I did talk about the gradual evolution of the national emergency strategic stockpile, and it has evolved from wartime to current times, right before the pandemic, with various phases and various types of funding. It does not have a large budget, as compared

Health committee  Yes.

Health committee  We would have to follow up on that number.

Health committee  For that number, we'd have to do calculations on burn rate. I would just caution that a procurement order is not the same as what we receive.

Health committee  We don't offer it for sale, but we will distribute it.

Health committee  Not necessarily. We've had cases, particularly with third world countries during the Ebola outbreak. Just let me grab my—

Health committee  Depending on the nature of the item, yes.

Health committee  Antivirals, which are where we are active, happen regularly.

Health committee  I would have to confirm that.

Health committee  The ones in the Regina warehouse we kept well beyond their expiry date, and normally we would not keep them that long.

Health committee  I am in charge of stock rotation. Typically we do keep things that could work a bit beyond their expiry, but a bit beyond their expiry we are not able to donate them, such as our donations to Texas for Hurricane Harvey or our donations to the Ebola outbreak. We—

Health committee  In 2014, for the West African Ebola outbreak, it was about 2.68 million dollars' worth. That included N95 respirators, gloves and coveralls. For Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017, it was about $10,000. That was really beds, blankets, pillowcases and bath towels.

Health committee  We keep a minimum level in our beds, blankets and PPE. Our focus in terms of our rotation is on the antivirals and masks.