In times of emergency, an under-resourced public health unit represents a very weak link in a fragile chain.

I'm concerned about a continuing shortage of medical officers of health ... and I'm especially worried about the ability of our public health laboratory system to quickly and efficiently detect infectious diseases.

In my opinion, Ontario is better prepared for infectious disease emergencies than we were three years ago when we struggled through SARS.

Mental health problems do not affect three or four out of every five persons but one out of one.

That's a much lower percentage than for other mental health disorders. It suggests that a lot of these individuals probably don't need treatment, but at the same time it might well be that people who do need treatment are not getting it, for personal reasons or because of external barriers.

It's important to get an update on the current physical and mental health status.