Natural Resources committee  I didn't hear it, but--

Natural Resources committee  I'm not familiar with Ms. Bell. I was very critical of some of my friends in the NDP for voting in Parliament to overrule the Nuclear Safety Commission without asking intelligent questions. The only intelligent question I heard asked in the news coverage of Parliament came from Mr.

Natural Resources committee  There wasn't that much to say. Thank you for the opportunity.

Natural Resources committee  Far from it, sir. I think one would like to know the truth about that. It would be very reassuring to me to learn, for example, that there were small-market impacts that were seriously threatening patients. If that were true, I could better understand why Parliament might have acted in the middle of the night.

Natural Resources committee  A comment from British Columbia, Mr. Chair?

Natural Resources committee  I'm sorry, I didn't catch the name of the member of Parliament who made the comment earlier. Listening to Dr. Gulenchyn, I'd love to work with her. We would respect each other a lot in practice. I wouldn't want to leave the impression that British Columbians are not concerned about the rest of the country.

Natural Resources committee  The senior medical director in our hospital would have emailed me and everyone else.

Natural Resources committee  I emphasize that if you want to pursue this, the right people to call as witnesses are the nuclear radiologists and the technicians who were really handling these issues. But a colleague informed me yesterday that the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, if I understood correctly, obtains radioactive molybdenum from a different supplier and had some that it could share as well, and that there was a daily teleconference occurring in British Columbia by the nuclear medicine specialists to ensure that supplies of radioisotopes were apportioned according to the greatest need.

Natural Resources committee  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to listen to Dr. Gulenchyn's testimony, but I certainly encourage you to pursue this, because the reason I'm here before you is I had a different interpretation of the middle-of-the-night sitting of Parliament. I did not agree with your colleague who called it Parliament's finest hour.

Natural Resources committee  I have a pager here. I'm on duty.

Natural Resources committee  I hope I'm not going into surgery because I'd be the patient.

Natural Resources committee  Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank Vancouver General for setting up the video conference so I could participate with you. I had asked the clerk of the committee, Mr. Mariage, to circulate to you, if possible, a transcript or at least the audiotape of what I said during an interview on As It Happens a few weeks ago.

Natural Resources committee  The only thing I could add to that is I hope your members understand I'm not an expert in nuclear medicine. I'm one of the people who requisitions nuclear medicine studies as part of my regular work as a hospital internist. I'm a reasonably senior doctor, so I have many colleagues whom I've practised with for a couple of decades, and I'm a working Joe doctor.

Natural Resources committee  For example, I worked through the SARS crisis. I'm actually the doctor who looked after the most patients with SARS in B.C. I looked after two patients. That was a true crisis. We were very frightened of what was happening to the public and to us, as health professionals, and were even more alarmed by what was happening in Toronto and China.