Health committee  No. We didn't have any evidence that established the efficacy of that three-day quarantine hotel program. In fact, as you know, our recommendation includes more stringent observation and support of people in their place of quarantine at home. That, combined with a seven-day PCR test, was seen as being the most effective way of both supporting the quarantine and making sure that if the virus had in fact developed during that period of time it would be caught.

Health committee  In the discussions we had both with the medical health officers and with the federal, provincial and territorial ministers—so at two different meetings—the health officers had suggestions and comments, but I'd say those were supportive and things like the Alberta pilot were discussed.

Health committee  Our recommendation is that nobody avoids a quarantine. Our recommendation is framed around the nature of the quarantine. You have your predeparture test. If that's negative, you come into the country. You then must have an approved quarantine plan in place. There may be a need for those who don't have a quarantine plan to have special consideration.

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Barlow. Yes, we did. We looked at a number of the pilots. We looked at the Alberta pilot, and Verna Yiu actually sits on our panel. We also looked at the pilots that had taken place in other provinces as well. Those were all incorporated into our recommendation.

Health committee  Let me just summarize very quickly again what the provisions around those hotels are. Right now, it's not being applied equally to land and air travellers. We saw a lot of evidence at our panel that travellers were choosing to fly from an international destination into a United States airport and then drive across the border to avoid those quarantine hotels, so it's not working in that context and it's very expensive for taxpayers to administer these hotels.

Health committee  As we understand it, the government is certainly exploring elements of our report for implementation. I'm not aware that they are not implementing the report. I think one of the critical elements of our mandate is that borders be done in a measured, a very cautious and a phased way because there are multiple elements that need to be considered.

Health committee  That's correct. I understand that, from what we've heard—

Health committee  Absolutely. The evidence, as we know, is that the incubation period for SARS-CoV-2 is approximately seven days, so being in a quarantine accommodation for three days does not necessarily provide the protection the population and public health officials would want.

Health committee  I don't know why it was implemented. The other reason that we suggested changing it and eliminating these provisions is that it's being applied differently to land and air travellers. Therefore, it was really not fulfilling the purpose for which it might have been implemented because you're not catching travellers who come across the border—

Health committee  We've recommended, as you know, that the mandatory requirement for the hotels, the government-authorized hotels, be replaced and not be continued, that it be replaced with a more comprehensive and close monitoring of at-home quarantines. There would need to be—and I think we note this as you'll see in the report as well—

Health committee  Thank you for the question. This is our fourth report. We initiated our work on the report in late February, and we consulted very broadly, listening to industry groups and medical experts, as well as a variety of experts in other fields. We delivered our report to Health Canada on May 2.

Health committee  I'm sorry.

Health committee  We met with the FPT—the federal-provincial-territorial—health ministers on May 10, which is part of our normal process to receive their input. We were still getting that final input on May 10, and then the report was published on May 27.

Health committee  We don't know what sources the government has beyond our panel that it takes into consideration, but we do know that there is a lot of information and a lot of data and evidence in areas that impact borders that are not within the purview of our panel. Our panel is just focused on testing and screening.

Health committee  We're not advised of the other sources that the government considers. We look at a very broad base of evidence, but there are other things that have to come into consideration in opening the borders.