Finance committee  Well, certainly the nineties were the dark decade--or to use the phrase that Rick Hillier uses for the military, “the decade of darkness”--in terms of cuts to the health sector. The federal contributions decreased dramatically and started increasing into this century, basically.

Finance committee  I could certainly agree to that and expand on some of my earlier comments, again with the greatest of respect, about needing hospitals and needing physicians in those hospitals, and so on, but the biggest bang for our buck is going to be in preventing people from getting there in

Finance committee  If you're looking for a consensus or a discussion that has already taken place to come up with a different figure, no. The support is there for the Naylor report and the divvying up, if you will, of the funds within his recommendations. Because we're here talking at the federal

Finance committee  Because there have been a few glitches along the way and we've put in an awful lot of money, it's a really tricky subject, isn't it? My recent conversations with Richard Alvarez, the CEO at Canada Health Infoway...and I have seen some reports, but I don't have them in front of me

Finance committee  Thank you very much. I can't actually speak to the midwifery issue. It's not my area of expertise, but I know you have other witnesses coming forward in the coming days who will be able to respond to that question. I might, though, suggest that there are at least two areas I wou

Finance committee  That's exactly what I'm saying. You've nicely highlighted that thought. The reason I mentioned the Naylor report by Dr. David Naylor after the SARS crisis—I have the executive summary here, and we can get you the link—was that it was really focusing on public health. It's about s

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak to the committee. I am going to speak to you in English, but I am always ready to try to answer your questions in French. I thought I would take a moment to make sure that everyone on the committee understands on whose behal

Finance committee  Exactly.

Health committee  I have just a quick comment. Again, I lived in Toronto during SARS and was the chair of a hospital at that time as well. The business continuity was not a big issue at that point in time, but the document that came out that everyone wanted, that was considered the definitive bu

Health committee  It was part of my message that communication is an issue. I don't think the people who have put these processes in place have gotten enough credit. The folks at Health Canada and PHAC have done everything they could to get the right communication strategies in place, and some of

Health committee  Thank you. I think the media are in a very difficult position, because they need to tell stories, tell news, keep people informed, and that doesn't always match well with our needs as health providers. I will say one thing, though. In Toronto approximately 60 very desperately m

Health committee  Thank you. First, I want to pick up on your point about evidence. I did make that comment. I also said “when it's available”, because we don't always have evidence. The key piece of this issue we're dealing with is that it's unfolding in real time. We're learning as we go. It's

Health committee  I was going to add that I have myself heard that clear directive, but I think there are areas in the health system, and the public obviously, where it is not that clear. Within the health professions there has been a great deal of debate on whether or not health care providers ca

Health committee  I don't want to speak on behalf of other groups, but I know in several sectors--for instance with the nurses' unions and the Canadian Medical Association--the cost has been identified as a serious issue. If we want to equip everyone with appropriate masks, for instance, no one kn

Health committee  We certainly stay in touch with them regularly. We meet via teleconference with the CEOs of the provincial and territorial health bodies or whoever is representing on our group. To a great extent, they feel they're getting sufficient information at the provincial and territorial