Procedure and House Affairs committee  These decisions were not taken lightly. They were not taken easily. There was a very full appreciation of the level of sacrifices that Canadians were being asked to make to preserve the health and well-being of other Canadians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It was because the cost, in terms of human life and illness, was considered to warrant it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That is a very philosophical question. It's a very challenging question, but the nature of public health interventions is that we ask all Canadians to make personal sacrifices, not necessarily for themselves and sometimes counter to their own best interest or self-interest, but t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We have asked extraordinary things of all Canadians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would not necessarily be able to predict who might be in contact or who might be infected, but there are some indicators that we have, that we know, of who would be the most severely impacted, who would have the most serious disease, who might require a ventilator or critical c

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In general we have defined “essential” workers or occupations as people who are providing direct care to those who are impacted by COVID-19 and supporting that care, and people who are supporting the response by maintaining food supplies, critical infrastructure services and so f

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would recommend taking whatever measures we could to avoid creating a condition whereby we increase the risk of transmission, where we create an opportunity for mass gatherings or large gatherings and where we create an opportunity or an obligation for people to gather together

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It would be challenging. My station always has a big lineup.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it was considered and it's always a factor, but we were well aware that not everybody had that capacity.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It was part of the knowledge set that we had at the time. I guess I would say to you that if we could choose the time for our pandemic, we would have chosen a time when conditions maybe were better suited to having everybody stay at home.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If something of that nature were required, it would require a significant degree of planning in terms of how to do that safely, including physical distancing and avoiding mass gatherings and a large number of people coming together at any given time. If the requirement is absol

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Our advice has been consistently to stay the course and to continue. We have asked Canadians to make very extraordinary sacrifices in order to see some flattening of the curve, and our advice to all Canadians is to stay the course. If there is a determination that it is necessar

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think I would probably give you the same advice that I have given a number of different businesses, which is that there needs to be a fairly thorough risk assessment done that looks at all aspects of the equation. As you say, it's not simply a matter of bringing the core group

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The Public Health Agency of Canada would not be involved in a particular plan for an individual or place. I would suggest perhaps your administrative individual could probably answer that for you. It sounds as though they have put some plans in place, but that would not be under